14-year-old Brennon Walker missed the school bus yesterday as he was trying to get to Rochester High School. He tried to walk to school but since his mother took his phone away, and it made that task even more difficult.
Walker knocked on someone’s door to ask for directions to the school. A woman opened the door, suspected Walker of trying to rob the house, and started yelling at him. Her husband soon came downstairs with a gun.
“I got to the house, and I knocked on the lady’s door,” said Walker to Fox 2. “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.”
Walker knew he was being racially profiled but he was glad that he is still here today.
“My mom says that, black boys get shot because sometimes they don’t look their age, and I don’t look my age,” said Walker. “I’m 14; but I don’t look 14. I’m kind of happy that, like, I didn’t become a statistic.”
Oakland County Sheriff Deputies brought Jeffrey Zeigler, who shot at Walker, into custody. He was charged with assault, intent to murder and carrying felony firearms. He was out on $50k bond and will appear in court again on April 24.
“It is just absurd that this happened,” said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard. “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.”
The wife of Zeigler kept saying why did “these people” choose my house. That shows everything you need to know about their racism. The home also had a neighborhood watch sign so Walker thought that it would be a safe home to approach.
Zeigler should not have been out on bond, he was clearly attempting to kill Walker. Hopefully justice wins in court on April 24.
Flip the page to watch Fox 2 detailing the incident.