A jury found a white Michigan man who shot at a black teen asking for directions guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm. The verdict, delivered on Friday, may have hinged on a home surveillance video that captured 53-year-old Jeffrey Craig Zeigler walking onto his porch and firing his gun at then-14-year-old Brennan Walker as he ran off.
Suggested Reading
Zeigler was standing trial for a more serious charge, assault with intent to murder, CNN reports.
Back in April, Brennan had missed his school bus and tried to walk the four miles from his stop to Rochester High School, about 20 miles outside of Detroit. Along the way, he got lost and started knocking on doors of nearby houses to get directions, eventually stopping at the Zeiglerโs house.
After knocking on the door, Brennan says a woman in the house began yelling at him.
โShe was like, โWhy are you trying to break into my house?โ I was trying to explain to her that I was trying to get directions to Rochester High,โ Brennan told Fox 2 Detroit at the time.
Moments later, Zeigler, a retired fireman, came to the door with a shotgun in handโBrennan took off toward the street after spotting the gun. As he ran away, Zeigler fired a shot at the boy.
Afterward, Zeigler claimed he never intended to fire the gun. Telling police that the gun accidentally went off after he fell backward and his finger hit the trigger, reports CNN.
But surveillance video from Zeiglerโs home, which was shown to the jury at the trial, directly contradicted Zeiglerโs lie. In the video, Zeigler can be seen, raising his weapon, taking a few seconds to aim at Brennan and then firing off a shot. The recoil from the shot sends Zeigler back.
Back in April, Brennan told Fox 2 Detroit he was happy he didnโt โbecome a statistic.โ
โMy mom says that black boys get shot because sometimes they donโt look their age, and I donโt look my age. Iโm 14, but I donโt look 14,โ Brennan said.
His mother, Lisa Wright, says race was definitely a factor, telling local news outlets she considered Zeiglerโs actions a hate crime, CNN report.
โOne 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, โWhy did โthese peopleโ choose my house?โโ Wright told Fox 2 Detroit. โWho are โthese people?โ And that set me off.โ
When Ziegler testified in his defense during the trial, he said he didnโt try to see why Brennan was at the door because the scene was โso chaotic.โ
โI was concerned about my wife. I was concerned that someone was coming through the door,โ Zeigler said.
Of course, the video shows Brennan was waiting patiently on the porch, barely moving until the moment he ran off in terror at the sight of Zeiglerโs shotgun.
Zeiglerโs attorney says the verdict shows the jury didnโt believe that he was trying to kill Brennan.
Zeigler was also found guilty of possessing a firearm in the commission of a felony. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov.ย 13.
Straight From
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.