QUEEN CREEK, AZ — Brenton Housand was just trying to buy baby formula for his 7-month-old son when he was shot six times outside a Queen Creek Walmart by a man he had never met.
“I just remember hearing ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,’” said Housand. “I really didn’t know what was happening."
Tuesday, March 12, 2019, is a date that transformed the Housand family forever and nearly killed the husband and father of six kids, ages 10 to just 7 months old.
“It just was pouring down my back and then I realized I’d been shot,” he said. “Two in the buttocks, one in the scrotum, one in my arm and two in my back. Eight holes total.”
Jeremy Ford, 27, was eventually arrested and charged with the shooting. Court paperwork shows Ford told investigators he didn’t know Housand but drove by and started shooting because Housand was wearing a knee brace.
He went on to say “his girlfriend and mother both recently suffered leg injuries and he felt as if the victim had something to do with it."
“I was just so scared that that was how I was going to go and that I wasn't going to see my kids and family again,” said Housand. “It was just very, very, very scary.”
Housand’s road to recovery will be long and painful but he says this terrifying ordeal has only strengthened their family bond.
“Just how much they really do mean to me and it’s just making sure they know every time because you never know when it could be your last moments,” he said.
When it comes to the man accused of gunning him down, Housand has this to say. “I don’t hold a grudge against him at all,” he said. “People are human, people make mistakes and everyone does stupid things sometimes.”
Ford has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including attempted murder.
Housand is a roofing superintendent and the sole provider for his family.
Click here for more information regarding his family’s online fundraiser.
