Michigan Homeowner Who Shot At Black Teen Charged With Assault With Intent To Murder
Jeffery Craig Zeigler, 53, was charged with assault with intent to murder and possession of a firearm in the commision of a felony on Friday, April 13.
UPDATE: We reported last week on Brennan Walker, a 14-year-old teenager who was shot at by a Michigan homeowner after asking for direction to his school Thursday, April 12. Jeffery Craig Zeigler, 53, the assailant, was arrested and charged Friday with assault with intent to murder and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Zeigler is currently out on $50,000 bail.
During his arraignment, Judge Julie Nicholson entered a plea of “not guilty” for him on his behalf. Walker’s mother told WDIV that she thought there was a racial component to the case. “It definitely was a hate crime,” she said. Walker told reporters that after he missed the bus, he trekked the four miles to Rochester High School in Rochester Hills, he got lost and began knocking on the doors of several houses.
Upon knocking on the Zeigler’s residence, a woman came to the door, yelling at him. “I was trying to explain to [her] that I wanted to get directions to go to my school,” Walker said. The man eventually came out with a shotgun and fired one shot at the teen who spotted the gun early on and had already began running away.
Brennan was not wounded in the assault.
See the original story below.
A missed bus almost resulted in the death of a Michigan teen.
Fourteen-year-old Brennan Walker was confronted by a man with a gun after trying to get directions to walk to school after missing the bus, according to a report from Fox 2.
After waking up late and missing his bus, Walker walked the bus route to Rochester High School in Rochester Hill, Michigan, and ended up knocking on a stranger's door for help, because he didn't have his phone with him (his mother had taken his phone away).
"I got to the house, and I knocked on the lady's door," the teen said. "Then she started yelling at me and 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. 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."
Fortunately, the man missed the shot (he forgot to take the safety off), with Walker running away and hiding. Following the incident, Oakland County Sheriff Deputies went to the home and placed the man into custody.
Lisa Wright, Walker's mother, was at work when she received a call notifying her of the incident. She thought that the call was in regards to her husband who is stationed in Syria. But after learning it was about Walker she met up with him at the police station. There, they reviewed security footage taken from the family's doorbell alongside investigators.
"One of the things that stands out, that probably angers me the most is, while I was watching the tape, you can hear the wife say, 'Why did "these people" choose my house?'" Wright said. "Who are, 'these people?' And that set me off. I didn't want to believe it was what it appeared to look like. When I heard her say that, it was like, but it is [what it looks like]."
"It is just absurd that this happened," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. "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."
Currently, the man who fired his weapon at Walker is being held at the Oakland County Jail. He's expected to be arraigned sometime on Friday.
Source: Fox 2