It's not clear why the man allegedly chose to fire a shot gun at the boy.
A teen was nearly shot on his way to school after he missed the bus and decided to ask a neighbor for directions.
The 14-year-old, Brennan Walker, was late and stopped to ask a neighbor for directions on Thursday, but once a woman opened the door, things took a turn for the worse in the Michigan neighborhood, according to police.
The woman, who is black, reportedly started yelling at Walker. As he tried to explain himself, the woman’s husband allegedly grabbed a shot gun and fired at Walker.
“She was like, ‘Why are you trying to break into my house?’ I was trying to explain to her that I was trying to get directions to Rochester High. And she kept yelling at me,” Walker told WJBK. “Then the guy came downstairs, and he grabbed the gun, I saw it and started to run. And that’s when I heard the gunshot.”
Walker said he ran, hid, and then broke down in tears. Their encounter was reportedly captured on surveillance footage through the home's doorbell system.
“My mom says that black boys get shot because sometimes they don't look their age, and I don't look my age,” Walker told the station. “I’m kind of happy that, like, I didn't become a statistic.”
Jeffrey Zeigler, a retired firefighter, who is white, was charged with assault with intent to murder and a felony firearm charge, reports said.
“There’s a lot more to the story than what’s being told, and I believe that will all come out in court,” Zeigler said at the arraignment. “I was in bed yesterday morning when my wife started screaming and crying … ”
Zeigler’s wife called the police at 8:20 a.m. that morning saying that her husband had chased a black male who was trying to break in the home, the Associated Press reported.
“It is just absurd that this happened,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told WJBK. “I feel terrible for the young man; I feel terrible for the mom and the anxiety that they had to go through. We are going to ask for every charge permissible for this guy who stepped up and fired a shotgun because someone knocked on his door.”
Zeigler is being held of $50,000 bond.
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