JeffCo teenager shot while looking for backdrop for homecoming photos

A 38-year-old man is suspected of shooting a 17-year-old girl in the face as she sat in his car and wrote a message asking the owner of a property in Jefferson County for permission to take photos around her house in honor of the upcoming homecoming.

The 17-year-old was injured in the shooting Tuesday afternoon in the 23000 block of Pleasant Park Road near Conifer when 38-year-old Brent Metz allegedly fired a gun through the windshield of the teen's car, according to a news release from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Metz was arrested in connection with the shooting on charges of first-degree assault, two counts of menacing, illegal discharge of a firearm and reckless endangerment.

The teenager was taken to a hospital for treatment. His condition is unknown.

The 17-year-old told sheriffs he and a friend drove to the property to get permission to take photos of the homecoming, the news release said. The boys parked at the front gate, jumped the fence and walked up the driveway to talk to the homeowner.

Since no one appeared to be home, the teens walked around the property to see if the homeowner was outside. After not being able to find the property owner, the teens returned to their car and began writing a note asking for permission to use the property as a backdrop for the homecoming photos, the news release said.

Then Metz, whom the teenagers said they had never met, allegedly arrived in a truck, got out and fired a shot at the car's windshield, the sheriff's statement said.