When a 14-year-old boy missed his school bus on a Thursday morning, he thought that it would be safe to ask a neighbor for directions as he wasn't too sure of the route by foot. While this may seem like a completely reasonable course of actions, it almost ended in a fatality.

Brennan Walker was nearly shot after he asked a neighbour for the directions to his high school.

The Rochester Hills, Michigan, teenager was trying to trace the bus route by foot after he woke up late and missed the bus. He didn't have his phone with him, as his mother had taken it away as punishment, and he got lost along the way.

Seeking help to get him to school, Brennan knocked on a house to ask for directions and was greeted with a gun.

"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?' I was trying to explain to her that I was trying to get directions to Rochester High," Brennan told Fox 2 Detroit.

"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."

Thankfully, the man's shot missed Brennan.

"My mom says that black boys get shot because sometimes they don’t look their age, and I don’t look my age. I’m 14, but I don’t look 14. I’m kind of happy that, like, I didn’t become a statistic," said Brennan.

Local police have also condemned the incident, with Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard saying that the shooting was "completely unacceptable on every level."

"It is just absurd that this happened," said Sheriff Bouchard. "I feel terrible for the young man; I feel terrible for the mom and the anxiety that they had to go through.

"We are going to ask for every charge permissible for this guy, who stepped up and fired a shotgun because someone knocked on his door."

Brennan's mother, Lisa Wright, was understandably shocked and angry by the actions of the shooter. She wants the man who shot at her son to face charges and believes that what happened was "definitely a hate crime."

The house had a doorbell which allowed Fox 2 Detroit to view the recorded incident. Investigators also let Wright and her son see the video.

"One of the things that stands out, that probably angers me the most is, while I was watching the tape, you can hear the wife say, 'Why did these people choose my house?'" Wright said.

"Who are 'these people'? And that set me off. I didn’t want to believe it was what it appeared to look like. When I heard her say that, it was like, 'But it is [what it looks like],'" the mother said.

The whole ordeal has been met with a collective eye-roll from Twitter, with many people noting that this is what it means to be black in modern-day America.

The man who shot at Brennan is currently in custody and expected to face charges.

It's a shocking incident which will do nothing to aid the racial tensions which already exist in the US. Hopefully, the man who shot at Brennan will face the charges he deserves.

When a 14-year-old boy missed his school bus on a Thursday morning, he thought that it would be safe to ask a neighbor for directions as he wasn't too sure of the route by foot. While this may seem like a completely reasonable course of actions, it almost ended in a fatality.

Brennan Walker was nearly shot after he asked a neighbour for the directions to his high school.

The Rochester Hills, Michigan, teenager was trying to trace the bus route by foot after he woke up late and missed the bus. He didn't have his phone with him, as his mother had taken it away as punishment, and he got lost along the way.

Seeking help to get him to school, Brennan knocked on a house to ask for directions and was greeted with a gun.

"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?' I was trying to explain to her that I was trying to get directions to Rochester High," Brennan told Fox 2 Detroit.

"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."

Thankfully, the man's shot missed Brennan.

"My mom says that black boys get shot because sometimes they don’t look their age, and I don’t look my age. I’m 14, but I don’t look 14. I’m kind of happy that, like, I didn’t become a statistic," said Brennan.

Local police have also condemned the incident, with Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard saying that the shooting was "completely unacceptable on every level."

"It is just absurd that this happened," said Sheriff Bouchard. "I feel terrible for the young man; I feel terrible for the mom and the anxiety that they had to go through.

"We are going to ask for every charge permissible for this guy, who stepped up and fired a shotgun because someone knocked on his door."

Brennan's mother, Lisa Wright, was understandably shocked and angry by the actions of the shooter. She wants the man who shot at her son to face charges and believes that what happened was "definitely a hate crime."

The house had a doorbell which allowed Fox 2 Detroit to view the recorded incident. Investigators also let Wright and her son see the video.

"One of the things that stands out, that probably angers me the most is, while I was watching the tape, you can hear the wife say, 'Why did these people choose my house?'" Wright said.

"Who are 'these people'? And that set me off. I didn’t want to believe it was what it appeared to look like. When I heard her say that, it was like, 'But it is [what it looks like],'" the mother said.

The whole ordeal has been met with a collective eye-roll from Twitter, with many people noting that this is what it means to be black in modern-day America.

The man who shot at Brennan is currently in custody and expected to face charges.

It's a shocking incident which will do nothing to aid the racial tensions which already exist in the US. Hopefully, the man who shot at Brennan will face the charges he deserves.