DENVER (AP) — A teenager scouting out a spot near a Colorado lake to take picturesque homecoming photos this weekend was shot in the face when the boyfriend of the property owner fired his weapon and yelled, “Oh sh__, my gun went off,” court records show.
The 17-year-old boy survived the shooting and told investigators he didn't believe the man intentionally shot him. But the man who shot him, Brent Metz, a councilman in a tiny town in the Denver metro area, was arrested on suspicion of charges that include first degree assault.
Metz did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. A phone number or attorney for Metz were not immediately found. He is a councilman in the town of Mountain View.
The victim's friend told investigators they had hopped the fence on the property to ask the homeowners permission to take photos the coming weekend. Knocking on the door and looking around back to no avail, they headed back to their car to write a note for the homeowner.
Around that time, Metz received a call from his girlfriend, the property owner, who said there were trespassers, according to law enforcement. Metz drove up to the property as the two boys were sitting in their car.
Exiting his truck, Metz leveled a gun at the two boys and fired through the windshield, the teenagers told law enforcement. The shot left one of the boys bleeding profusely from his face, a piece of his mouth missing, as his friend ran around the car and used his shirt to stanch the bleeding, the friend told investigators.
Metz tried to help them, but the friend said he pushed Metz away.
A scan at the hospital showed a possible bullet fragment still in the teenager's head, according to court records. Metz was arrested on charges of first degree assault, felony menacing, illegal discharge of a firearm and reckless endangerment.
Motorcyclists gesture to each other as they pass in the 23000 block of Pleasant Park Road where a teenager, who was scouting for a location for lakeside homecoming photos, was shot in the face by a town councilman, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, near Conifer, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A motorist guides a pickup truck along the 23000 block of Pleasant Park Road where a teenager, who was scouting for a location for lakeside homecoming photos, was shot in the face by a town councilman, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, near Conifer, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A pickup truck moves along the 23000 block of Pleasant Park Road where a teenager, who was scouting for a location for lakeside homecoming photos, was shot in the face by a town councilman earlier this week, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, near Conifer, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A sign off Highway 285 points motorists to Pleasant Park Road where a teenager, who was scouting for a location for lakeside homecoming photos, was shot in the face earlier this week by a town councilman, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, near Conifer, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
PHOENIX (AP) — Nearly 100,000 voters who haven't submitted citizenship documents might be prevented from participating in Arizona's state and local elections, a significant number for the battleground state where races have been tight.
The announcement Tuesday of an error in state-run databases that reclassified voters comes just four days before county election officials are required to mail ballots to uniformed and overseas voters.
Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said the error was resolved Tuesday morning, but the voter status of those caught up in it hasn't. Fontes and Stephen Richer, the Republican recorder for Maricopa County, disagree over whether the voters should have access to the full ballot or the ability to vote only in federal races.
Richer filed a special action Tuesday asking the state Supreme Court to settle the question.
“It is my position that these registrants have not satisfied Arizona’s documented proof of citizenship law, and therefore can only vote a ‘FED ONLY’ ballot,” Richer wrote on the social platform X.
Arizona is unique among states in that it requires voters to prove their citizenship to participate in local and state races. Those who haven’t but have sworn to it under the penalty of law are allowed to participate only in federal elections.
Arizona considers drivers’ licenses issued after October 1996 to be valid proof of citizenship. However, a system coding error marked more than 97,500 voters who obtained licenses before 1996 — roughly 2.5% of all registered voters — as full-ballot voters, state officials said.
While the error between the state’s voter registration database and the Motor Vehicle Division won’t impact the presidential race, that number of voters could tip the scales in hotly contested races in the state Legislature where Republicans have a slim majority in both chambers.
It also could affect ballot measures, including the constitutional right to abortion and criminalizing noncitizens for entering Arizona through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry.
Richer said his office discovered earlier this month that someone was classified as both a noncitizen and a full-ballot voter — in violation of state law. The person registered to vote in 2022 but has not cast a ballot in Arizona elections, Richer said.
The discrepancy led to a larger systemic issue with state databases, according to the court filing.
Fontes said the roughly 97,500 voters who were reclassified because of the error — more than half in Maricopa County — are longtime Arizonans and mostly Republicans who should be able to fully participate in the general election.
“This was discovered not because somebody was voting illegally and not because somebody was attempting to vote illegally as far as we can tell,” Fontes said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. “And this was basic voter roll maintenance and it showed us that there is this issue.”
Richer said Fontes ignored state law by advising county election officials to let affected voters cast full ballots. Fontes said not allowing the voters who believed they had satisfied voting requirements access to the full ballot raises equal protection and due process concerns.
“I am unwilling to disenfranchise this many voters by limiting them suddenly, and with little notice, to a federal only ballot when none of them had notice of or blame for this issue,” Fontes wrote in a letter to county recorders.
Fontes said elections officials eventually will contact the voters but not until the high court settles their status. He said his office would set up an electronic portal where voters can submit citizenship documents, if needed.
Fontes and Richer agreed that the voters would be required to prove they are U.S. citizens to participate in state and local elections after the 2024 general election.
FILE - A voter casts their ballot at a secure ballot drop box at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE - Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer speaks during a voting records trial Sept. 21, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool, File)
FILE - Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 27, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri, File)
