Sandy MaloneStarks, LA – A Calcasieu Parish man is facing multiple felony charges after he shot a 14-year-old girl who was with a group of neighborhood kids outside his home playing hide-and-seek in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The incident occurred on a property belonging to 58-year-old David Doyle in Starks near the Louisiana-Texas border, ABC News reported.
A press release from the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office (CPSO) said that Doyle told responding sheriff’s deputies that he “observed shadows outside his home, at which time he went inside and retrieved his firearm.”
“He then advised detectives he went back outside and observed people running away from his property, at which time he began shooting at them and unknowingly hit the girl,” the sheriff’s department said.
First responding deputies on the scene found a 14-year-old girl suffering from a gunshot wound to the back of her head in Doyle’s yard, ABC News reported.
She was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening wounds, according to the sheriff’s press release.
CPSO Violent Crimes detectives responded to the scene and the preliminary investigation determined that neighborhood teens had been playing a middle-of-the-night game of hide-and-seek and had been playing on Doyle’s property.
The press release did not specific exactly what time the game was taking place and whether such occurrences were commonplace in the neighborhood.
Doyle was taken into custody at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.
58 year-old Louisiana man shot a 14 year-old girl who was playing hide and seek with her friends. He saw shadows outside his home and started shooting. The girl survived. pic.twitter.com/P9yY7YVJDc
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 9, 2023
He was booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center on charges of aggravated battery, four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, and illegal discharge of a firearm, according to the press release.
Bond has not yet been set in Doyle’s case.
Holly Matkin
