What’s worse than getting busted for sneaking out of the house? How about getting shot by your own father in the process?

This situation comes to us by way of a sheriff’s deputy named Easton McDonald.

The man stumbled out of bed in the early hours of Tuesday morning to confront what he thought was an intruder. Unfortunately for the McDonald household, things didn’t go quite as planned.

According to the Washington Post, McDonald was made aware of a supposed intruder in the house through the security system, which informed the startled man that someone was in the garage.

Local law enforcement officials said that McDonald then armed himself and went down into the basement. It was there that he saw a “dark figure” walking towards him.

A deputy mistook his own daughter for an intruder and shot her, authorities say http://t.co/GVpV3uRCwT

— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) August 15, 2014

It was then that McDonald is reported to have opened fire, hitting his 16-year-old daughter “in the torso”.

The sheriff’s deputy called 911 immediately after realizing his terrible mistake.

McDonald attempted to take his injured daughter to a nearby hospital himself, but he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a barrier. He was not seriously injured and there were no further injuries to his daughter.

The teen was eventually taken to Winchester Medical Center. As of Thursday, she is in stable condition.

Easton McDonald is a sergeant with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

McDonald has been on administrative leave since the shooting took place. Authorities stated that the incident is currently the subject of an internal investigation.

There are a couple of takeaways from this very unfortunate situation:

1.) You should definitely make sure your kids are all accounted for if your security alarm goes off in the middle of the night.

2.) If there is the remotest chance that sneaking out of the home of gun-owning parents might get you shot, whatever you’re creeping out of the house for had better be worth it!

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