Black teen who was shot at after asking for directions is headed to Florida Memorial University

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Brennan Walker truly has a triumph over tragedy story.

3 years ago, Brennan Walker — who was 14 at the time — was nearly killed by a white man after asking for directions to his high school after he missed the bus.

After suffering from depression, he recovered, became student council president, graduated a semester early and is now headed to HBCU Florida Memorial University.

Brennan Walker was simply looking for help

In 2018, Brennan was simply looking for help at a Rochester Hills home in Michigan.

He knocked on a stranger’s door. A man confronted the student with a gun, assuming that the lost teenager was trying to break into his house.

Brennan—who was unfamiliar with the walking route to Rochester High School— missed his bus because he woke up late. He did not have his cell phone, so he needed a little help.

“I got to the house, and I knocked on the lady’s door. Then she started yelling at me and she was like, ‘Why are you trying to break into my house?’,  Walker said.

“I was trying to explain to her that I was trying to get directions to Rochester High. And she kept yelling at me.

Then the guy came downstairs, and he grabbed the gun, I saw it and started to run. And that’s when I heard the gunshot”, Brennan told FOX 2 Detroit.

The shooter missed. Fortunately, Brennan was able to run and hide, and eventually escaped.

The man who shot at the teenager was a retired Detroit firefighter named Jeffrey Zeigler.

NBC News reports that Zeigler was found guilty of assault with attempt to do great bodily harm.

An additional charge included addition possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Zeigler was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Triumph over tragedy

The shooting took a toll emotionally on Brennan.

The event impacted his ability to do his schoolwork for a period of time. Counseling and teachers at the Alternative Center for Education in Rochester assisted the student to help him to resume accomplishing goals.

Brennan Walker at Florida Memorial University

“Eventually I pulled myself together and got through it and I became student council president at the school I was at, and I was also vice president for a while,” Brennan told Fox 2.

With additional help from family and friends, Brennan ended this ordeal on a positive note.

Brennan will be studying Biology.

Congratulations Brennan!