Brent Metz, 40, says his gun misfired as he got out of his truck to meet two teenagers wandering around his property.
GOLDEN, Colo. (CN) – In opening arguments Wednesday, prosecutors asked a jury to convict a man of assault and menacing after he shot a teenager who was looking for homecoming pictures on his property in Conifer, Colorado.
“This is the extension of their intervention: they walk down the street and knock on a door,” said Christopher Johnson, deputy district attorney for the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office. “They chose the wrong house and they chose the wrong people.”
Jack Howard, who was 17 at the time, was driving after school with a friend looking for the perfect spot to take homecoming photos on Sept. 10, 2024, when the teenagers spotted a lake just off the road. They pulled up and walked around the property looking for the owner of the house to ask permission to return, stopping along the way to pet the barn kittens.
As the teenagers returned to their car to write a note, a woman who was home reported the trespassers to 911 and her husband, 38-year-old Brent Metz. At the time of the incident, Metz was sitting on the city council for Mountain View.
According to prosecutors, Metz ignored advice sent to let law enforcement make first contact, and instead lunged at the teenagers with his gun drawn.
“He brings a handgun, a 9mm handgun that has a live round in the chamber ready to go,” Johnson said. 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.
Prosecutors charged Metz with aggravated assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm and two counts of menacing.
Metz’s defense attorney, Christopher Decker, acknowledged that his client carried the gun that shot the teenager, but told the jury it was an accident. While moving the Sig Sauer P320 from the truck holster to his holster, Metz claims he lost his leg and the gun that was subject remembers safety AND lawsuits issued without pulling the trigger.
“This accidental discharge was not the result of carelessness; he was as careful as he’d ever been, and the gun went off anyway,” said Decker, who practices with Decker & Jones in Denver.
Decker described his client as a responsible gun owner who first obtained a concealed carry permit at age 19 and practiced firearms safety from Eagle Scouts in the Air Force. If Metz had intended to shoot the teenager, Decker said, the teenager would have died.
“Everyone in this courtroom will agree that they didn’t deserve to be shot, and everyone will be happy and grateful that Jack Howard is alive,” Decker said.
First Judicial District Judge Russell Klein, nominated by Jared Polis, sat on the jury last Friday. The trial is scheduled to continue this Friday in Jefferson County Circuit Court in Golden, Colorado.
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