(OAKLAND COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE and WDIV4)
Jeffrey Zeigler, has been charged with a felony for shooting at a teenage boy who knocked on his door for directions.
The retired firefighter faces assault with intent to murder and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony according to NY Daily News.
A woman reported to Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies on April 12, that a Black male tried to break into the house, but her husband Zeigler scared him off. However, police officials discovered that 14-year-old Brennan Walker accidentally missed the bus, attempted to walk four miles to his school Rochester High, got lost, and knocked on Zeigler’s door to ask for directions.
“I knocked on the door, stepped back, knocked, stepped back and then a lady came downstairs yelling at me,” Brennan told Click on Detroit.
He explained that the 53-year-old then came running down the stairs with a 12-gauge shotgun, fired once and missed.
Zeigler denied Walker’s allegations in court, but the camera footage showed otherwise.
“There’s a lot more to the story than what’s being told and I believe that will come out in court,” Zeigler told the judge. “I was in bed yesterday morning and my wife came in screaming and crying.”
Kelly Collins, the assistant prosecutor in the case told the court Friday, “We do have the benefit of home security video… The victim in this matter, a 14-year-old child, indicated what had happened to the police and his version did bear out on that video.”
Zeigler was released this past weekend on a bond of $50,000. He was ordered by Judge Julie Nicholson to have zero contact with Walker and his family and must maintain at least 10 mile from the teen, including finding a new residence away from Walker’s Rochester Hills home. The man was also ordered to turn over his weapons and to wear a GPS monitoring system.
The 53-year-old is due back in court April 24. and could face life in prison if he’s found guilty.
