Va. deputy shoots daughter sneaking back home

A Virginia sheriff's deputy mistook his 16-year-old daughter for an intruder early Tuesday and shot her as she sneaked back into their home, authorities say.

After alerting 911, the deputy then crashed his car while racing her to the hospital, and emergency responders finished transporting her for treatment at Winchester Medical Center, the Frederick County Sheriff's Office told WHAG-TV.

The teen was shot once in her torso and was listed in stable condition Thursday. She suffered no additional injuries when her father, Loudoun County Sheriff's Deputy Easton McDonald, hit a barricade.

The shooting happened about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday while McDonald, a 13-year veteran, was getting ready for work, said Frederick County Sheriff's Capt. Donnie Lang. The home's alarm system indicated a door of the attached garage had been opened, and McDonald grabbed his personal handgun to investigate.

Seeing a dark figure approaching him, he fired.

"Then he hears her voice and recognizes that it's his daughter," Lang toldThe Washington Post.

McDonald thought she was asleep upstairs, but she had slipped out of the house earlier in the night.

The Frederick County sheriff and Commonwealth's Attorney will decide whether any charges should be filed.

McDonald, who was described as being distraught, is on administrative leave pending an internal investigation by his department.