GOLDEN, Colo. (CN) - Brent Metz testified Friday that encountering strangers on his property wasn't unusual, as people often pulled off near 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 searching for the perfect place to take homecoming photos, was shot on the property, resulting in Metz being charged with felony assault and menacing.

Metz, 40, testified before the jury he moved his his Sig Sauer P320 pistol from his home safe to his hip-holster to his truck-holster and back several times, as was habitual for the gunowner and concealed carry permit-holder.

"The plan was to step out of my vehicle and then holster my firearm, it's the same move I've made thousands and thousands of times before," Metz said in court.

"As I went to step out, my foot did not go where I expected it to be, and I felt the firearm discharge against my belly," Metz recalled.

The pistol released a single bullet that flew through the windshield of the Audi parked in the driveway, piercing 17-year-old Jack Howard in the face. Howard and his friend had pulled over at Metz's driveway and walked around the property, hoping to ask for permission to come back.

While the teens 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 town council for nearby Mountain View.

Throughout the day, Metz called experts in firearm safety and reconstruction to bolster his claim that the Sig Sauer P320 misfired without him touching the trigger.

The P320 is designed with a striker safety lock that disengages when the trigger is pulled, unlike firearms with a thumb safety that requires a separate action to disengage. Metz told the jury 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 kids around a loaded Sig Sauer P320 if I had known," he said. "I feel horrible this happened to those two young men. It is something that has torn me up everyday and it is something I will struggle with for the rest of my days."

Prosecutors argue that Metz ignored advice from dispatchers to let law enforcement make first contact, and instead pounced on the teens with his gun drawn.

"He brings a gun, a 9mm handgun that has a live round in the chamber ready to go," said Christopher Johnson, deputy district attorney for the First Judicial District Attorney's Office, during opening arguments. "As soon as Jack opens the door, trying to figure out what is going on, Mr. Metz fires a single shot right into the windshield right to where the driver's head would be."

The bullet hit Howard in the nose, shattering into three pieces that had to be surgically removed. Howard survived, but his medical costs amounted to $100,000, according to a civil suit filed in December.

Prosecutors charged Metz with felony assault, illegal discharge of a firearm and two counts of menacing. If convicted, Metz will be prohibited from carrying a firearm 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 19 years old and practiced firearm safety from the Eagle Scouts to the Air Force.

First Judicial District Judge Russell Klein presided over the trial at the Jefferson County Combined Court in Golden, Colorado.

The parties are expected to present closing arguments to the jury on Monday.

Source: Courthouse News Service