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A 14-year-old boy missed the school bus on a Thursday morning in April. He started walking to school, got lost and knocked on the door of a house in a suburb of Detroit to get directions.
A minute later, a white man came out the door with a shotgun, aimed and shot at the teenager, who is black.
The meeting in Rochester Hills, Michigan, which was recorded on a surveillance video, was part of the evidence that jurors saw this week before convicting man, Jeffrey Zeigler, 53, on Friday.
He was convicted of a criminal assault charge for the purpose of committing serious bodily harm, which was a lesser charge than the intentionally murdered assault he had initially faced. He was also convicted of an indictment of having used a firearm while committing this crime.
Mr. Zeigler, a retired firefighter, incurs up to 12 years in prison when he will be sentenced in about two weeks, said Paul Walton, chief prosecutor for Oakland County.
Rob Morad, Zeigler's lawyer, said his client was "remorseful".
"He wishes that does not happen," Morad said on Saturday. "He wishes he did not go out that day."
The meeting of April 12th again an in-depth look at how benign daily interactions can turn into life-threatening situations for blacks.
It is also another remarkable case of black teenager shot dead outside a home in the Detroit area. Theodore P. Wafer was convicted of murder in 2014 for killing and killing Renisha McBride, 19, on her porch. Mr. Wafer stated that he had been woken up by waking up after knocking on his door around 4:30 in the morning.
Mr. Morad said the April meeting was so fast that Mr. Zeigler did not have time to consider the boy's race. "He just reacted and that was it," said Morad.
The surveillance video, which produces no sound, shows the boy, Brennan Walker, approaching the door of Mr. Zeigler's home. Brennan had slept while he woke up and thought he'd make the 90-minute walk to Rochester High School. An hour after waking up and leaving, Brennan was lost.
In the video, Brennan is carrying a backpack and a hat. Some chairs with cushions are on the outside of the house. He approaches the door before turning around and seems to want to move away. Then he gets closer to the door and pauses.
In April, Brennan told The New York Times that he had tried another house before Mr. Zeigler's. He said that after approaching Mr. Zeigler's residence, a woman started screaming as he tried to break into the house.
"She did not really give me an opportunity to talk, and I was trying to tell her that I'm going to Rochester High and that I was looking for some meaning," Brennan said. "Moments later, the guy came down and grabbed the shotgun."
The video shows Brennan backing up and sprinting. Mr. Zeigler points the shotgun and there is a lightning near the snout. He testified that he was trying to fire a warning shot, reported Fox TV Channel 2.
Attempts to reach Mr. Zeigler's wife, Brennan and his family on Saturday were unsuccessful. In an interview with Fox 2, Brennan's mother, Lisa Wright, said that she had already removed her phone as a punishment, which is why he could not use it to get directions.
Mrs. Wright said neighbors should be able to ask each other their way without fear.
"I should not be afraid of a child, let alone a fleshy one," she says. "It's a decent neighborhood. If anything, why would I knock on your door to rob you? Why should I have a conversation with you to steal you? It's ridiculous. Ignorance is everywhere. "
Mr. Morad said that Mr. Zeigler slept soundly that morning. He said that after Brennan sounded at the door, Mr. Zeigler's wife opened the door. During their conversation, Brennan headed to the door and "seemed to shake the door handle," Morad said.
Mr. Zeigler asked Brennan to leave his property and his wife to call the police before going to a nearby room, grabbing the shotgun and coming back, Morad said. That's when Brennan fled.
Brennan met with sheriff's deputies who were answering a call from Mr. Zeigler's wife and telling them her story.
Mr. Morad stated that between 2009 and 2017, there were five attempts to intrude into the Zeigler Residence, which prompted the couple to purchase the surveillance camera that captured the meeting with Brennan.
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