A 17-year-old Colorado boy was shot in the face Tuesday after he and a friend went to a home to ask permission to take homecoming photos on the property.
The shooting happened around 4:15 p.m. at a home on Pleasant Park Road in Jefferson County, the sheriff’s office said.
When deputies arrived, the 17-year-old was “bleeding heavily from his face, as a second juvenile applied pressure to his friend’s wounds with a t-shirt,” the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Wednesday. The teen is recovering from his injuries.
Brent Metz, the boyfriend of a woman who lives at the home, was arrested in connection with the shooting.
He was booked on charges of first-degree assault, felony menacing, illegal discharge of a firearm, and reckless endangerment. It’s not clear if he has obtained an attorney.
The sheriff’s office said the woman, who was not at the home, had called deputies before the shooting to report two trespassers on her property. She also called Metz, who drove over to the home and allegedly blocked the teen’s car from leaving, according to NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver.
Metz then got out of his vehicle and allegedly fired one round through the windshield of the teen’s car, the news station reported.
The 17-year-old told deputies that he and his friend went to the home because they wanted to take pictures there. He said they parked outside the gate, hopped the fence and walked up the driveway to look for the homeowner, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
When they could not find anyone at the residence, the boys “walked around the property trying to locate a homeowner” and then got back in their car, the sheriff’s office said.
“They returned to their car and began writing a note to the homeowner, asking permission to use their property to take pictures,” authorities said. “While they were doing this, a man they had never seen before pulled up next to them, exited the truck he was driving, and fired a round through the windshield, striking the 17-year-old driver in the face.”
A sheriff’s office spokesperson told KUSA that the teen’s intent did not seem “malicious or criminal.”
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by the news station, one of the teens said they heard Metz say, “Oh s—, my gun just went off,” after the shooting. Metz tried to help the 17-year-old but his friend pushed him away, the affidavit says.
Metz, 38, is a council member for the town of Mountain View, according to KUSA. The town administrator declined to comment when contacted by NBC News on Thursday.
She wasn’t home, according to the article. Presumably, she saw them on motion recorded video or something. It’s not specifically mentioned how she knew people were on her property. That just seems likely to me.
Strangers wandering your property is actually a super normal part of rural life. Why do you think so many people actually put up “no trespassing signs”, because otherwise the assumption is that you are ok with meeting new people that way. It’s a completely different mindset in a place where that type of crime is super rare. No one is worried the stranger on their property is a criminal, because they never are.
These people apparently weren’t of that mindset, and maybe should consider “no trespassing” signs for the future.
Signs and fences unfortunately don’t mean much to US laws, as we learned in a university law class. Look up attractive nuisances. If someone gets hurt on your property, even if you have signs and fences saying “warning: aggressive bull” and they hop the fence and get trampled, they can still sue and win.
This also includes stuff like trampolines, pools, etc.
It’s not about legality. It’s about knowing the mindset of the owner and informing your approach if you need to contact them. You can assume that if they put up that sign, they won’t be friendly if you do it anyway. That’s another thing about rural life, litigation is not on anyone’s minds. It’s just about manners and respect. The sign has nothing to do with legality. It’s like in a city when you put up a “no solicitation” sign. People can totally still solicit you, they just know what to expect if they do, and thus generally won’t bother.