Brent Metz is charged with aggravated assault in the shooting that struck Jack Howard, a teenager who had been wandering around Metz’s property.
GOLDEN, Colo. (CN) – Brent Metz testified Friday that encountering strangers on his property was not unusual, as people often stopped by his private lake in Conifer, Colorado, to watch the ducks or let their dogs swim.
But on Sept. 10, 2024, one such stranger, a teenager looking for the perfect spot to take homecoming photos, was shot on the property, resulting in Metz being charged with aggravated assault and menacing.
Metz, 40, testified before the jury he moved his Sig Sauer P320 pistol from his safe at his home to his holster to the trunk of his truck and back several times, as was customary for a gun owner and concealed carry permit holder.
“The plan was to get out of my vehicle and then holster my gun, which is the same move I’ve made thousands and thousands of times before,” Metz told the court.
“As I went to get out, my leg didn’t go where I expected it to, and I felt the discharge of the firearm in my stomach,” Metz recalled.
The gun fired a single bullet that went through the windshield of the Audi parked in the street, piercing 17-year-old Jack Howard in the face. Howard and his friend had pulled into Metz’s driveway and walked around the property, hoping to get permission to turn around.
As the teenagers returned to their car to write a note, a woman reported the trespassers to 911 and called Metz. At the time of the incident, Metz sat on the city council for nearby Mountain View.
Throughout the day, Metz called on experts in firearms safety and reconstruction to bolster his claim that the Sig Sauer P320 misfired without pulling the trigger.
The P320 is designed with a striker safety lock that disengages when the trigger is pulled, unlike firearms with a finger safety that requires a separate action to disengage. Metz told the jury that he assumed the design was safe because he trusted the company that sold it to him.
“I would never have let my partner or my children around a loaded Sig Sauer P320 if I had known,” he said. “I feel terrible that it happened to those two young men. It’s something that has haunted me every day and it’s something that I will struggle with for the rest of my days.”
Prosecutors argue Metz ignored dispatchers’ advice to let law enforcement make first contact, and instead lunged at the teenagers with his gun drawn.
“He brings a handgun, a 9mm handgun, which has a live round in the chamber ready to go,” said Christopher Johnson, deputy district attorney for the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office, during opening arguments. As soon as Jack opens the door, trying to figure out what’s going on, Mr.
The bullet hit Howard in the nose, shattering it into three pieces that had to be surgically removed. Howard survived, but his medical costs multiply to $100,000, according to a civil suit filed in December.
Prosecutors charged Metz with aggravated assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm and two counts of menacing. If convicted, Metz will be prohibited from possessing firearms for the rest of his life.
Metz’s defense attorney, Christopher Decker, described his client in court as a responsible gun owner who first obtained a concealed carry permit at age 19 and practiced firearms safety with Eagle Scouts in the Air Force.
First Judicial District Judge Russell Klein presided over the trial in the Jefferson County Circuit Court in Golden, Colorado.
The parties are expected to present closing arguments to the jury on Monday.
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