Woman dead after man housesitting for Evansville family opens fire
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) — The Evansville Police Department is investigating a shooting on the city’s southeast side.
It happened Friday night, after 8:30 p.m., on Frisse Avenue near the intersection of Weinbach.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the Hatt family had just pulled into their driveway. When an adult female got out of the vehicle, Daniel Hatt says he heard three or four shots fired and then heard the woman scream.
Daniel says in the affidavit, he told his children, aged 12 and 13, to run to the neighbors’ and was trying to move the woman to safety when the police arrived.
Once officers arrived on scene, they tried to tend to the woman’s medical needs when more shots were fired. According to the affidavit, Daniel and officers ran to the front of the home to avoid being in the line of gunfire.
More officers arrived on scene and the shots stopped. The affidavit says Richard Worley then exited the area and was taken into custody. Worley admitted to police that he was waiting on the ground behind a fence for the Hatt family to return home. Worley also admitted to shooting at the vehicle and its occupants with an AR-15.
Worley also admitted to taking silver bars from the Hatt home and selling them for cash to buy cigarettes and beer.
Neighbors say Worley was housesitting for the family.
Chanda Hatt died on the scene.
One of the shots fired went into a home across the street, landing in the room of a 10-month-old child.
Worley is currently in the Vanderburgh County Jail facing charges of murder, attempted murder, criminal recklessness, theft and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Back in 2008, Worley was charged with attempted murder and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In February 2014, Worley was released early as part of the community transition program.
