Rochester Hills man guilty in shooting at lost black teen

[Eugene]

Source: The Detroit News

Pontiac — In a case that attracted national attention and local outrage, a white Rochester Hills homeowner was convicted Friday for shooting at a lost black teenager who showed up at his door seeking directions to his school.

Jeffrey Zeigler, 53, was found guilty by a jury in Oakland County Circuit Court of assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony in the April 12 incident at his home involving 14-year-old Brennan Walker.

He had been charged with assault with intent to commit murder, but Judge Wendy Potts gave jurors the option of convicting Zeigler on the lesser charge.

Zeigler could get up to 10 years in prison for the assault conviction, plus a mandatory two years for the firearm count. Potts revoked his bond and ordered him to jail pending sentencing Nov. 13.

-snip-

Mike Martindale, The Detroit News Published 12:32 p.m. ET Oct. 12, 2018 | Updated 5:37 p.m. ET Oct. 12, 2018


Read more: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2018/10/12/rochester-hills-homeowner-who-fired-teen-trial/1613420002/

[Gothmog]

1. Lock this racist idiot up

[sheshe2]

2. Lock him up.

[docgee]

3. Guy shoots a unarmed black kid gets time in Detroit jail.

That's proper karma right there.

[DownriverDem]

5. Not in Detroit Jail

It happened in Rochester Hills, Michigan. (median income $80,806) He will serve in a Michigan prison.

[DownriverDem]

4. Security Video

The video was very clear that he was guilty. You see the teen going on the porch and up to the door. Then he takes off running. The man then comes out with a shotgun. He stopped and tries to shoot, then does shoot. (the safety was on) His wife was the one who called 911 on the teen. The guy is sorry, but the teen is lucky he wasn't killed. I'm surprised there are more incidents with so many gun nuts.

[SunSeeker]

6. Another "responsible gun owner."

[DownriverDem]

7. So true

He's a retired fire fighter. Looks like an angry white man to me.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

15. I don't understand why the man (or his wife) felt threatened.

The boy was knocking on the door, not climbing through a broken window.

[DownriverDem]

17. Afraid of changes?

Rochester Hills is majority white. He was a former Detroit fire fighter. He used the term "colored boy". Many Metro Detroit cities have gone through changes and are more diverse. His wife screaming set it all in motion.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

21. I agree with you that the wife's screaming triggered him.

But honestly, I'm older than he is and I haven't heard the term "colored" in decades. And I grew up in Cleveland !!

[KT2000]

20. A mail carrier in our area

knocked on a man's door in the evening to deliver an Amazon box. The man answered with his rifle aimed at the mail carrier and there was a red laser dot on her chest. He no longer gets mail delivery to his home, he has to go to the post office to pick it up.

In an agreement with Amazon, deliveries are made twice a day so evening deliveries are now common.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

22. What is it with these gun owners ?

Answering the door with a gun ? Really ? What if it had been the Avon lady ? Or the little old ladies who do volunteer work at the library or church ? Or election pollsters ? Or the Girls Scouts ?

Most people who take the time to knock on the door are not the folks up to no good.

[KT2000]

23. Haven't had a gun aimed at me

but long ago I noticed that some older men will answer the door already angry. I believe they are stoked up on FAUX/internet hate and are ready for a confrontation that started in their own minds.
I live in an area with lots of retired people so I really think twice before knocking on someone's door.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

27. And isn't it a shame that you have to think that way ?

[NutmegYankee]

25. For pointing a loaded gun at a mail carrier, he should get his mail in a federal prison!

That should have been pursued and charged.

[KT2000]

26. Agree!

[iluvtennis]

8. Hope he gets the full 10 years. Most burglars don't knock on the door.

He knew the kid was lost. He shot at him cuz he was black

[DownriverDem]

9. + 2 years

Because he used a gun to commit the crime, he will automatically have to serve an additional 2 years to the sentence.

[iluvtennis]

10. Good.

[Jack-o-Lantern]

11. By God, this is Amurca! And if a ***** knocks on our doors in the morning,

by God we shoot first and ask questions later….

[IronLionZion]

12. Surveillance video shown in court of man accused of attacking teenager

Dude really "feared for his life" by chasing after a kid who took off running

[Aristus]

13. Smart judge.

Better a conviction and jail time on a lesser charge than the risk of an acquittal on a higher charge.

Dude's going away for a while...

Please warden, throw him in to GenPop. See how he likes that...

[yardwork]

14. Good. I hope he goes to prison for a long time.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

16. Good! nt

[llmart]

18. Guy's getting what he deserves.

Michigan has become a state of gun nutters. However Rochester Hills was voted one of the best small cities in the U.S. not long ago. It's a very family oriented place and is rather diverse, mainly because of the university that's there. The population is high income, white collar professionals.

The gun nutters get each other riled up by hanging with their own kind and feeding off of each other's anger and fear. Today I was walking into my nearby grocery store and a white man, probably in his late 50's, early 60's got out of his vehicle and I heard him swearing "F'ing this, f that, what a lie, and some other hateful stuff I didn't catch and looked back at the vehicle he had just gotten out of to see if maybe he was mad at someone in the jeep and just kept it up when he got out of the car, but there was no one in it and no one nearby that maybe had done something to set him up. The parking lot wasn't very full or busy. He stomped ahead of me with his head down and muttering all the way into the store. I stayed a bit behind him because I didn't want to get too close to him. I looked around when I got in the doors but didn't see him anywhere. All I could think of was, one more old, angry white man who's mad at the world because someone promised him a pony and he didn't get it. Geez.

I actually thought, "What if he has a gun?" and "What if he goes in the store and starts shooting it up?" Pretty bad that that crossed my mind.

[paleotn]

19. Off to jail with ya!

He can tell his fellow inmates what a bad ass he is. I'm sure that will go over well. Just one more old, angry, white dough boy looking for his lost privilege.

[Takket]

24. Another racist POS off the streets. Thanks for the good news!