Cleaning Worker Shot Dead After Mistakenly Going to Wrong Address in Indiana
A 32‑year‑old cleaning worker, identified as Maria Florinda Rios Perez de Velasquez, was shot and killed early on the morning of November 5, 2025, after she and her husband showed up at what they believed was a client’s home in Whitestown, a suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Just before 7 a.m., Maria and her husband, Mauricio Velázquez, arrived at a house in the Heritage subdivision for a cleaning job. Believing they were at the correct address, they approached the front porch with keys in hand — but it was the wrong house.
As they stood on the porch trying to unlock the door, a single gunshot was fired through the front door by the homeowner. Maria was struck in the head and died on the porch, collapsing into her husband’s arms. He told reporters he didn’t realize she had been shot at first; she stepped back twice before falling.
Police officers responding to a 911 call about a possible home invasion found Maria already dead and her husband uninjured. Officers later determined the couple were part of a cleaning crew that mistakenly arrived at the wrong address and did not unlawfully enter the home. Police identified the victim as Maria Florinda Rios Perez de Velasquez, a mother of four from Indianapolis. Her family described her as a hard‑working, kind woman who had only recently moved to the area with her husband and children. Her husband reportedly checked the address twice and even circled the neighborhood to make sure they were in the right spot before the shooting occurred. Maria’s brother told local media that she was “only trying to bring home the daily bread to support her family” and that her death was a heartbreaking and preventable tragedy.