Guilty Of Being 'Black While Lost', 14 Year Old Boy Is Shot At By Enraged White Homeowner
DETROIT (AP) — A black 14-year-old boy who got lost in a Detroit suburban neighborhood while trying to get to school was shot at by a white homeowner after knocking on a door to ask directions, prosecutors said Friday, citing home security video and the account of the boy.
Jeffery Zeigler, a retired Detroit firefighter, was arraigned Friday on charges including assault with intent to murder.
Oakland County sheriff’s deputies were called to Zeigler’s Rochester Hills’ home about 8:20 a.m. Thursday after a woman told 911 that her husband had chased a black male who tried to break in. Deputies learned that a shot had been fired and found Brennan Walker — unharmed — down the street.
Walker’s statement to police differed from that given by Zeigler, according to assistant prosecutor Kelly Collins.
“We do have the benefit of home security video,” Collins told the court Friday. He said Zeigler’s account was not borne out by the 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,” he said.
The video was taken from Zeigler’s home security system.
Zeigler, 53, attempted to give an account of the events Friday at his court appearance which was via video from the county jail.
“There’s a lot more to the story than what’s being told and I believe that will come out in court,” he told Judge Julie Nicholson. “I was in bed yesterday morning and my wife came screaming and crying …”
It was there that Nicholson stopped Zeigler, whose attorney was not in court for the arraignment.
Walker has said he woke up late Thursday, missed his school bus and became lost in the Christian Hills subdivision while trying to walk the bus route to Rochester High School.
When he knocked on the door to Zeigler’s home, Walker said a woman inside began yelling “‘why are you trying to break into my house?'” he told WJBK-TV. “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.”
Walker’s mother, Lisa Wright, said it was clear to her what was behind the shooting after investigators showed her the security video.
“After watching the video and hearing the wife say ‘why did these people choose my house?’ I knew it was racially-motivated,” Wright told WXYZ-TV. “I don’t know what other ‘these people’ she could possibly have been talking about. He was by himself.”
Wright said people in the neighborhood shouldn’t be afraid of a child, “let alone a skin tone.”
“We should not have to live in a society where we have to fend for ourselves,” she added. “If I have a question, I should be able to turn to my village and knock on a door and ask a question.”
Zeigler’s bond was set at $50,000. He was ordered to have no contact with Walker or the teen’s family, to wear a GPS tether and to turn over any weapons to the sheriff’s office.
He also was told that he couldn’t return to his house and had to stay at least 10 miles from Walker’s Rochester Hills’ home.
“I’d really like to stay in my home and keep my family together,” Zeigler told the judge. “I promise to have no contact with the gentleman.”
Nicholson set an April 24 probable cause conference and May 1 preliminary exam.
A Dearborn Heights man is serving at least 17 years in prison after being convicted of murder in the 2013 fatal shooting of a black woman who pounded on his door after crashing her car. Police have said that Renisha McBride, 19, was drunk when Ted Wafer shot her through the screen door of his home, just west of Detroit.
Wafer, who is white, has said he believed his home was being broken into.
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On top of everything else, the white homeowner apparently tried to shoot the kid in the back.
"Walker’s statement to police differed from that given by Zeigler, according to assistant prosecutor Kelly Collins.
“We do have the benefit of home security video,” Collins told the court Friday. He said Zeigler’s account was not borne out by the 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,” he said.
Thank goodness for the video or this bigot would likely be trying to press charges ruining another young black mans life. Without the video I'm sure the account would have been "frail old white man fearing for his life as thug attempted break in and attempted to rape his wife". And who would police be more likely to believe? The "saintly" white retired firefighter who is also an apparent lying bigot with an itchy trigger finger.
exactly where in the story does it state the homeowner shot at him because he was black kid?
Movie star Charlize Theron is worried about racism in America as the mother of two black children.
The actress, who was raised in South Africa during the apartheid era, opened up to Elle on Thursday about racism in America and raising two black children in the current social climate.
"Racism is much more alive and well than people thought. We can't deny it anymore. We have to be vocal," Theron told Chelsea Handler in the May cover story . "There are places in this country where, if I got a job, I wouldn't take it. I wouldn't travel with my kids to some parts of America, and that's really problematic."
Rawr... H A W T.
She sure is.
Yet all the racists scream and whine about the "race card" being played against them every time they let their prejudices show. If the tiki torch march didn't wake people up to the fact that racism is alive and well in America I don't really know what will. They will never see what they don't want to see, which is the deep seated prejudices and hatred of people different than they are who don't share their fascist neo-conservative white nationalist ideals.
Reminds me of this...
How do people become so frightened and bigoted that a child knocking on their door at 8:20 in the morning is immediately looked upon as a life threatening incident that requires the homeowner to attempt to kill the child? None of us wants to be frightened, but once we see what the circumstance is, you would think that at least a discussion through a closed door would have been a more acceptable reaction. No one asked the Zeiglers to adopt the young man. It is people like the Zieglers who should make the rest of us frightened. Who will scare them next......maybe they won't miss.
Unfortunately most Burglaries and Home Invasions begin with someone knocking on the door. The Burglars are hoping nobody is home and the Home Invaders want to get you to open the door. Still that is no excuse for shooting at someone who is running away. I don't blame them for being wary and not opening the door after all it is Detroit but there was no reason to do what they did, they had the gun so if he had broken in they could have protected themselves. They should have just called the cops if they were that frightened.