Man accused of shooting at black teenager who knocked on his door to ask for directions
A man who allegedly fired a shotgun at a black teenager who knocked on his door to ask for directions after missing the school bus, has been charged with assault with intent to murder.
Brennan Walker, 14, told police that he overslept, missed his bus and was trying to walk to school when he got lost.
Hoping to ask for directions, he knocked on retired firefighter Jeffrey Zeigler's front door in the suburban Detroit neighbourhood.
After a woman called the police and told them her husband had chased a black male who tried to break in, officers arrived to investigate.
Oakland County sheriff’s deputies later established that a shot had been fired at the schoolboy.
Mr Walker’s statement to the police differed from that given by Mr Zeigler, according to assistant prosecutor Kelly Collins.
He said that the teenager told them that he was trying to explain to the woman that he needed directions when a man came downstairs and grabbed a gun.
Mr Collins told the Oakland County Court that Mr Zeigler’s account was not “borne out” by his own home security video.
Mr Zeigler’s bond was set at $50,000 and he was ordered to have no contact with Walker or the teen’s family.Attempting to give an account of the events, Mr Zeigler told Judge Julie Nicholson: “There’s a lot more to the story than what’s being told and I believe that will come out in court. I was in bed yesterday morning and my wife came screaming and crying.”
Mr Zeigler’s bond was set at $50,000 (£35,000) and he was ordered to have no contact with Walker or the teen’s family.
He was also told that he couldn’t return to his house and had to stay at least 10 miles from Mr Walker’s Rochester Hills’ home.
Walker's mother, Lisa Wright told WXYZ-TV that she believed the attack was "racially-motivated."
Additional reporting by AP
