ELLENDALE, Del. — Delaware State Police have charged a 74-year-old Salisbury, Maryland, man after investigators said he fired a rifle from a ground hunting blind Friday evening and fatally struck a 39-year-old Georgetown woman walking through an open field in Sussex County. The man identified by police is Walter Moorhead. Official police reports use that spelling. He has been charged and is presumed innocent unless and until he is convicted in court.
Delaware State Police included that presumption in their official release. Police said troopers responded at about 7:40 p.m. on Friday, September 18, 2026, to an open field near South Old State Road, north of East Robbins Road, in Ellendale. The call was for a woman who had been shot. Responding troopers provided medical care at the scene before the woman was taken to an area hospital.
She was pronounced dead at the hospital. Police have not named the hospital. As of the latest official release, they have also withheld the victim’s name pending notification of her family. Troopers contacted Moorhead at the scene and determined that he had fired the shot that struck the woman, police said.
He was taken into custody. The Delaware State Police Homicide Unit assumed the investigation. According to the preliminary investigation described by State Police, the woman was walking through the field with a man and two children at the time of the shooting. Police said Moorhead was hunting deer from a ground blind, believed he saw a deer, and fired his rifle, striking the victim.
That account is an investigative allegation from police, not a finding by a court. Police have not released a verbatim statement from Moorhead, and they have not identified the man or the two children who were with the woman. Authorities have not publicly said that the man or the two children were struck by gunfire. They also have not issued a separate statement saying those three people were uninjured.
The charges announced by police include three felony counts of first-degree reckless endangering, listed in addition to the homicide-related charge. Police have not explained in the release how those three counts correspond to the people in the field. Moorhead was taken to Troop 4, charged, and arraigned by the Justice of the Peace Court. Police said he was released after posting a $43,000 cash bond.
The charges listed by Delaware State Police are: Manslaughter, Recklessly Caused Death of Another Person, a felony. Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, a felony. Reckless Endangering First Degree, a felony, three counts. Police have said the weapon was a rifle.
They have not released the make, model, caliber, or ammunition type. They have not said whether any wildlife citation or hunting-regulation charge was filed in addition to the criminal charges listed above. No public statement from Delaware wildlife officials was found in official or local reporting reviewed for this article. State Police have not released a statement from the victim’s family.
No public comment from prosecutors beyond the charges announced through the police release was located. Local coverage on September 19 and into September 20 repeated the State Police account and did not report a later official update identifying the victim, adding charges, or changing Moorhead’s bond status. A few secondary reports paraphrased the police account more loosely, writing that Moorhead said he believed he saw a deer. The official State Police release does not present that wording as a direct quote.
It states, as part of the preliminary investigation, that Moorhead believed he saw a deer and fired his rifle. That distinction is noted here because the official release is the most complete law-enforcement account available. As of Sunday, September 20, 2026, the Delaware State Police Homicide Unit said the investigation remains active. Police have not announced a next court date beyond the Justice of the Peace arraignment already completed.
