A Colorado city councilman was ousted from workplace final week after he allegedly shot a 17-year-old within the face throughout a confrontation over trespassing.
Brent John Metz, 39, was faraway from the Mountain View City Council following a particular recall election on Might 20. The vote, which noticed 127 residents help the recall and 72 oppose it, got here months after Metz was charged in reference to a September 2024 taking pictures that left a young person severely injured. Council candidate Ryan Debner was elected to exchange him.
Metz, a registered Republican, pleaded not responsible in April to 4 felony expenses: second-degree assault (reckless inflicting critical bodily damage with a lethal weapon), two counts of felony menacing, and unlawful discharge of a firearm. He’s presently out on a $5,000 bond and is scheduled for a pre-trial listening to on June 23. Prosecutors and protection attorneys are in ongoing discussions over a possible plea settlement.
The fees stem from an incident on Sept. 11, 2024, within the Conifer space, the place Metz lives along with his girlfriend and fellow Mountain View council member Brittany Loecher.
In response to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Workplace, two youngsters had been on the lookout for a scenic location to take homecoming images and approached Metz’s lakefront property, valued at practically $1.5 million.
The kids parked their white Audi outdoors the property’s gate and walked up the driveway to request permission to take images. When nobody answered the door, they returned to the automotive and commenced writing a notice for the house owner.
Loecher noticed the teenagers and known as each police and Metz to report trespassing. Metz arrived first, pulling up in his black GMC Sierra beside the Audi to dam it in. In response to the arrest affidavit, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound councilman exited his car, approached the teenagers, “pulled a handgun from his holster and pointed it in direction of them.”
Moments later, a gunshot rang out, the windshield shattered, and Metz allegedly stated, “Oh sh—, my gun went off.”
A Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy responded minutes later and located the teenage sufferer “bleeding closely from his face,” with “blood operating down his arm” and a white t-shirt pressed to his face. The affidavit famous, “The best nook of his mouth gave the impression to be lacking flesh and he additionally had [wounds] on each the suitable and left aspect of his nostril which had been actively bleeding… additionally had swelling round each of his eyes.”
The teenager was rushed to the hospital, the place medical doctors informed deputies they believed a bullet fragment was lodged in his head. His identification has not been publicly launched on account of his age.
The unhurt teen informed deputies he by no means noticed the gun, solely heard the shot, and didn’t imagine Metz deliberately fired. He added, based on the affidavit, that Metz “tried to assist him after the gun went off.” Metz remained on the scene however refused to reply whether or not he had fired the weapon, as an alternative asking for a lawyer.
Former Mayor Jeff Kiddie, who performed a key function in organizing the recall, stated the neighborhood couldn’t ignore the incident. “The truth that the incident occurred is type of a blight in town,” Kiddie informed Every day Mail. “To have someone make that rash judgement, unintentional or not, simply the act of pulling the firearm on two youngsters? … It simply doesn’t rise to that stage of want.”
Kiddie stated the recall committee fashioned solely after Metz made it clear he wouldn’t resign. “We had been anticipating a resignation of some type, and when it grew to become completely clear that that wasn’t the case, that’s the place we fashioned a recall committee.”
Earlier than the election, Metz despatched a letter to constituents describing the incident as “an unintentional discharge of a firearm and the damage of one other particular person.” He added, “I’m grateful that this particular person seems to have shortly recovered, and I wish to guarantee you that I by no means meant to hurt anybody.”
Addressing questions on why he wouldn’t step down, Metz wrote, “What would you do, if you happen to had been wrongfully accused of against the law? Nevertheless a lot simpler a selection this may be, would you abandon your sworn obligation to your neighbors and neighborhood?”
Loecher, who known as 911 and notified Metz of the teenagers’ presence, has refused to speak to the press. As a substitute releasing a press release by means of Metz’s lawyer, Christopher R. Decker, who said, “[She] is assured that Mr Mets (sic) might be discovered not responsible, as he’s presumed, and as all of the details might be established at trial.”
Mountain View Mayor Emilie Mitcham, pictured alongside Metz and Loecher in a earlier council photograph, didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Metz was elected to the City Council in 2023. Regardless of efforts to remain in workplace, the vast majority of voters in the end selected to take away him within the wake of what many considered as an unacceptable and violent overreaction.
