PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A white retired firefighter has been sentenced to at least four years in prison for shooting at a black teenager who came to his suburban Detroit home asking for directions to school.
Jeffrey Zeigler apologized before he was sentenced Tuesday in Oakland County court. A jury convicted him last month of assault and a gun crime.
Fourteen-year-old Brennan Walker wasn’t hurt. He told police he missed a school bus on April 12 and knocked on Zeigler’s door in Rochester Hills after getting lost. He ran after seeing a man inside the house grab a gun.
The 53-year-old Zeigler says he woke up to his wife’s screams and that she believed someone was trying to break into their home.
He’ll be eligible for parole after four years.
