Police documented a lower-back wound, a damaged handgun component and a spent casing as Patrick McBride and Juan Hoffman offered competing versions.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A bullet entered Juan Hoffman’s lower back, police found a cracked trigger guard on Patrick McBride’s handgun, and investigators recovered a spent casing that McBride said he had picked up from the scene. What those pieces of evidence ultimately establish is now central to a criminal case built around two incompatible accounts.
The Sept. 13 shooting in a gated north Scottsdale community left Hoffman, 21, with a spinal injury and without the ability to walk. McBride, 80, was arrested and later pleaded not guilty after being formally charged. McBride says his handgun fired during close contact when Hoffman approached him on a Segway and raised an object in his hand. Hoffman says McBride drew the weapon as they argued, prompting him to turn away before the shot struck him from behind. Publicly available reporting has not disclosed a completed forensic reconstruction that resolves the contradiction, leaving the trajectory of the encounter and the mechanics of the discharge likely to receive close attention as the case advances.
The two men crossed paths because Hoffman was working in the neighborhood, not because they knew one another. Hoffman had traveled from Washington to the Phoenix area to sell window-cleaning services door to door. He was using an electric Segway while making his rounds and stopped at McBride’s home because he wanted water. McBride told investigators he became suspicious about why Hoffman was inside the private community and questioned him. He told Hoffman he was not allowed there and needed to leave. McBride also said Hoffman later pointed a cellphone toward the residence, which McBride interpreted as possible filming or photography of the property.
Hoffman rode away from the house but did not immediately exit the community. His explanation to investigators was that he discovered his wallet was missing and wanted to retrace his path. About 10 minutes after the initial encounter, police records say McBride and his wife decided to make sure Hoffman had left. McBride retrieved a handgun from a safe and placed it in a holster on his left hip. His wife drove through one portion of the neighborhood as McBride walked through another. The police account says the plan was for her to contact him if she spotted the Segway.
McBride’s description of the eventual confrontation emphasizes Hoffman’s movement toward him. He told police the salesman began riding in his direction and was gaining speed. Hoffman’s right hand was raised, according to McBride, and he believed the younger man might do something to him. McBride said he drew the pistol with his left hand while stepping aside. He then described the men as making contact, after which the gun “suddenly went off,” according to the arrest account. His attorney has since characterized the encounter as self-defense, saying McBride could not tell what Hoffman was holding and believed he was about to be struck.
Hoffman’s description points in the opposite direction at the moment the shot was fired. He says McBride angrily confronted him about leaving the community and revealed the handgun. Hoffman told police he backed away after seeing McBride reach for the weapon. He said he then turned to leave. The shot hit his lower back, an injury location that police confirmed. Hoffman has publicly denied raising his hands at McBride and rejected the idea that the firearm simply went off while McBride tried to protect himself. His account is that he was attempting to disengage when he was shot.
The condition of the weapon adds another fact without, by itself, answering what caused the discharge. Investigators said the handgun had a cracked and partly broken trigger guard. McBride also had the discharged casing in his possession, according to court records. He told police that he picked up the casing to preserve evidence. Neither detail has been publicly reported as conclusive proof supporting one version of the encounter. A damaged trigger guard could become relevant to a technical examination of the firearm, but publicly available reports do not identify a final laboratory conclusion about whether the weapon malfunctioned, fired through ordinary trigger activation or was affected by physical contact.
Other evidence may bear on the men’s locations and conduct before the shooting. McBride’s defense says neighborhood security video shows Hoffman moving through the community after being asked to leave and ringing another resident’s doorbell. The defense also says Scottsdale police had earlier contacted Hoffman in a different gated neighborhood, told him a solicitation permit was required and removed him from that property. Those assertions are offered to explain why McBride viewed Hoffman as suspicious. They do not settle what happened during the shooting itself. Hoffman has consistently said the reason he remained in McBride’s neighborhood after their first interaction was his missing wallet.
The immediate aftermath produced another set of conflicting details. McBride told investigators he did not initially realize Hoffman had been shot when Hoffman fell. Court records say McBride told the younger man to get up and leave, but Hoffman said he could not move. Hoffman later said McBride picked up his cellphone and the shell casing and returned toward his house. Defense attorney Jefferson M. Simmons disputes that account. Simmons says McBride stayed with Hoffman and that McBride’s wife recovered the phone from the ground after Hoffman asked for it. Court records say McBride’s wife called 911 after seeing Hoffman injured and McBride directed her to summon an ambulance.
Police arriving in the neighborhood found Hoffman with the gunshot wound and he was taken for emergency treatment. Early court records described him as stable but suffering from a spinal injury and unable to feel his legs. Surgeons later removed the bullet, according to Hoffman, but his ability to walk has not returned. In rehabilitation, he has worked toward basic transfers and balance while adjusting to wheelchair use. Hoffman has said doctors cannot assure him that he will walk again. He had come to Arizona for a short sales trip and said he hoped to save money for college, with an interest in studying electrical engineering.
McBride was taken into custody after the shooting and booked on allegations including aggravated assault and disorderly conduct involving a weapon. He later posted a $150,000 bond. A judge subsequently denied a travel request after determining McBride posed a flight risk, according to local reporting. McBride’s lawyer has pointed to his age, Air Force background and long history in the community while insisting that the public should not treat an indictment as evidence of guilt. The attorney says McBride acted because he believed he faced an immediate threat.
The prosecution will have to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, while McBride remains presumed innocent. The defense can challenge both the interpretation of the physical evidence and Hoffman’s account of the confrontation. The publicly known facts establish that Hoffman was struck in the lower back, that McBride possessed and fired the handgun and that their accounts diverge over the seconds leading to the discharge. What remains unresolved is whether further forensic evidence, video, testimony or expert analysis can establish the sequence with greater precision.
Much of the case may ultimately turn on evidence that has not yet been fully tested in public. The reported wound location, condition of the handgun and competing descriptions of the men’s movements provide pieces of the encounter, but they do not yet form an undisputed reconstruction. McBride remains presumed innocent, and any stronger conclusion about how the shot was fired will depend on evidence presented through the criminal proceedings.
Author note: Last updated Oct. 21, 2026.