Man shoots son he believed was intruder, Merced police say. Teen in stable condition

Authorities are investigating after a Merced man reportedly shot his son whom he thought was an intruder.

At about 2:17 a.m. Sunday, officers responded to the 200 block of East 20th Street for a report of a shooting inside a home, according to a Merced Police Department news release. Officers arrived on scene to find the 17-year-old victim lying on the floor inside the kitchen of the residence, according to Det-Sgt. Kalvin Haygood.

During the investigation, officers learned that one of the home’s residents Allen Brooks, 44, shot his son believing he was an intruder. Haygood said Brooks believed all his family members were sleeping when he noticed a light turn on in the backyard of the residence.

Brooks reportedly saw a person moving around the backyard of the residence, according to police. When the person began to walk through the door to the kitchen, Brooks reportedly demanded that the intruder leave and announced he was armed. As the person continued to enter the home, Brooks fired one round from a 12-gauge shotgun striking the 17-year-old in the arm, lower abdomen area and thigh area, according to Haygood.

Police said it was only after the shooting, that Brooks realized it was his teenage son whom he believed was home and in bed. Officers provided medical aid to the teenager who was transported to a regional trauma center where he underwent surgery and remains in the intensive care unit, police said.

“He’s stable, expected to survive,” Haygood said.

According to investigators and a Merced County District Attorney’s Office representative who responded to the scene, evidence and interviews support Brooks’ account of the shooting, the release said.

According to Haygood, no charges have been filed against Brooks, who was fully cooperative with authorities.

“He didn’t have any reason to believe that it would be one of his family members,” Haygood said.

Brooks is the president of the Merced County NAACP and a trustee on the Merced City School District board.

Investigators are working to review body camera footage from the officers who responded to the scene as well as obtaining a statement from Brooks’ son. Police are also looking into who the teenager may have been with when he left the home and when he returned to the residence.

Haygood said that according to the parents, it was out of the ordinary for their son to do something like this.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact Sgt. Haygood at 209-385-6998 by email at haygoodk@cityofmerced.org or Det. Steven Odom at 209-388-7814 by email at odoms@cityofmerced.org.