wtop.com

Friday – 8/15/2014

WINCHESTER, Va. (AP) — A Virginia deputy sheriff shot his 16-year-old daughter

after mistaking her for an intruder, then crashed his car as he rushed her to the

hospital, authorities said.

The teenager was in stable condition at a

Winchester hospital, according to media reports.

Capt. Donnie Lang of the

Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said a security alarm sounded at about 3:30 a.m.

Tuesday at the Winchester home of Easton McDonald, a sergeant with the Loudoun

County Sheriff’s Office. He said McDonald, responding to the alarm, saw the dark

shape of a person advancing through the garage door and fired.

“He figured

someone had broken into the garage, and his family was upstairs asleep,” Lang said.

Armed with his privately owned gun — not his service weapon — McDonald

fired, Lang said.

“Then he hears her voice and recognizes that it’s his

daughter,” he said.

According to investigators, McDonald grabbed his daughter,

who had been returning home after apparently sneaking out, and called 911 to report

that he was taking her to the hospital. En route, McDonald lost control of his car

and hit a barricade, damaging the front of the vehicle but causing no additional

injuries to his daughter or to himself, Lang said.

Emergency responders went

to the scene of the crash and took McDonald’s daughter to the hospital.

A call

to the McDonald home Friday went to a recording, which said the number had been

temporarily disconnected.

Kraig Troxell, spokesman for the Loudoun sheriff’s

office, confirmed that McDonald was involved in the shooting but declined further

comment.

McDonald, a 13-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, was placed on

administrative leave pending an internal investigation.