An 80-year-old man has been accused of shooting a door-to-door salesman in the back during a confrontation in a gated community in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Patrick McBride was arrested after the salesman was found with a gunshot wound in the lower back near Pima Road and Hawknest roads on Sunday afternoon, 13 September. He was taken to hospital in a stable condition after telling officers he could not feel his legs.
Police said the man had been riding a Segway while offering window-washing services to residents. According to court documents, McBride told him to leave the private community before later going outside with a handgun to check whether he had gone.
The salesman told investigators he had remained nearby because he believed he had lost his wallet. He said McBride approached him, shouted at him and produced a firearm as he tried to leave, before a shot struck him in the back.
McBride has given a different account. He told detectives that he became suspicious when he saw the salesman still near the neighbourhood entrance several minutes after their first encounter.
He claimed the man rode towards him with a mobile phone raised and that he feared for his safety. McBride said he intended only to push the man’s hand away with the hand holding the gun when the weapon discharged accidentally.
Investigators noted that the gun’s trigger guard was cracked. McBride also told police he had picked up the spent cartridge and put it in his pocket to preserve evidence.
His wife called emergency services after the shooting and told the dispatcher that her husband had shot the man, although she did not know why, according to court documents.
McBride told the court that he had graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 1968 and served in the Air Force for four years. He also said he had extensive experience with firearms.
The victim has not been publicly identified.
McBride faces charges of aggravated assault, a class-three felony, and disorderly conduct involving a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, a class-six felony. He is being held on a $150,000 bond and is due back in court on 21 September.
