Porch video shows man shoot at teen who asked for directions
(WJBK) - An Oakland County man is on trial for allegedly shooting at a black teen who came to his porch for directions to his Rochester Hills school.
On Tuesday, prosecutors presented surveillance video of teen Brennan Walker's encounter with homeowner Jeffrey Zeigler for members of the jury. Video shows the teen walking onto the porch and seconds later he moves in closer to apparently knock on the door. Suddenly the teen quickly backs off and runs away.
That's when you see Ziegler come out of his home holding a shotgun, appearing to aim and then shoot at the teen as he is running away.
Black teen misses bus, gets shot at after asking for directions in Rochester Hills
Zeigler, a former lieutenant in the Detroit Fire Department, was in the court room Tuesday as prosecutors presented the video. Zeigler's wife allegedly accused the teen of breaking into the home, but prosecutors argued differently.
Shawn Pace, a detective with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, was called to the stand and detailed what happened when he showed Ziegler the video.
"I said 'Sir, can you point out to me where he charged your door, at what point was he a threat?'" said Pace. "I said he was standing four feet away with his hands in his pockets, he is not showing any aggressive manner. He's been lying to me the whole time.
"Mr. Ziegler at this point is just sitting there and I said you took aim at him. You know sir, can you respect what I do and just admit that you aimed your weapon at this young man. He took a big drink of water, he looked at me and he said, 'I'm tired of being a victim.'"
That was when Judge Wendy Potts ended the testimony for the day and said everything would resume Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. Tune into FOX 2 for more coverage.