Juan Hoffman says basic wheelchair transfers now mark progress after a shooting that began with a request for water.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Weeks after arriving in Arizona to sell window-cleaning services and earn money for his future, 21-year-old Juan Hoffman was measuring progress differently: by whether he could move himself into a wheelchair without another person’s help.
Hoffman is recovering from a spinal injury suffered when he was shot in the lower back Sept. 13 in a gated north Scottsdale neighborhood. The shooting transformed what had been a short work trip into an uncertain rehabilitation and a criminal case against 80-year-old resident Patrick McBride. Hoffman says McBride shot him as he turned away from a confrontation. McBride, who has pleaded not guilty, says he feared Hoffman was about to hit him while approaching on a Segway and that the gun discharged during contact. The competing accounts remain unresolved, and McBride’s attorney has challenged public descriptions portraying the shooting as a deliberate shot at someone simply walking away.
Before the shooting, Hoffman described himself as athletic and independent. A Washington resident, he said he had traveled to the Phoenix area for about a week of door-to-door sales and hoped the work would help him save for college. He has spoken about studying electrical engineering and moving into a management role with his sales team. After the shooting, those longer-range plans were overtaken by rehabilitation. Hoffman told Arizona’s Family that tasks he once would not have thought about had become major goals. He contrasted his previous ability to do backflips and other physical activities with the difficulty of balancing and moving without help after the spinal injury.
The chain of events began while Hoffman was going from house to house offering window-cleaning services. He was using an electric Segway to cover the neighborhood when he stopped at McBride’s residence. Hoffman said he was hot and dehydrated and asked for water. McBride told investigators he became suspicious of Hoffman’s presence inside the private community and questioned why he was there. He told Hoffman to leave. McBride later said that as Hoffman rode away, the younger man pointed a cellphone toward the home, which made McBride believe Hoffman might be taking photographs or video.
Hoffman did not immediately leave the broader neighborhood. He told police he realized his wallet was missing and began retracing his route. That decision became a central part of the confrontation that followed. McBride told investigators that he and his wife decided to check whether Hoffman had gone. According to the police account, McBride went inside, retrieved a handgun from a safe and placed it in a holster. His wife drove in one direction while McBride walked in another. The defense has since said Hoffman had previously been told by Scottsdale police that he needed a permit to solicit and had been removed from another gated community. Hoffman’s reason for staying, according to police records and his later interviews, was to find his wallet.
When the two men encountered each other again, Hoffman says the situation changed almost immediately. He said McBride angrily told him to leave and displayed the handgun. Hoffman has said he responded that he would not leave without his wallet. Once he saw the weapon, he said, he turned to get away. He then heard the shot and fell. Hoffman later told FOX 10 Phoenix, “I couldn’t move my legs.” In another interview, he said he initially did not fully understand that he had been shot. He has described fear that he might die as he lay injured on the pavement waiting for medical help.
The physical consequences soon became clear. Hoffman was taken for emergency treatment with a spinal injury. Early reports said he was stable but could not feel his legs. He later said surgeons removed the bullet from his back and that doctors could not promise whether he would walk again. During rehabilitation, Hoffman has been working on mobility and adapting to a wheelchair while confronting the possibility that some changes may be permanent. He told FOX 10 that he had begun considering that he might spend much of his life using a wheelchair. Friends and relatives started an online fundraiser to help with medical and rehabilitation expenses.
McBride’s account differs at the critical moment before the gunfire. He told police that Hoffman rode toward him on the Segway and was gaining speed while holding up his right hand. McBride said he feared Hoffman was going to do something to him, drew the handgun with his left hand and tried to move Hoffman’s hand away as the two came together. McBride said the pistol then fired. His attorney, Jefferson M. Simmons, has expanded on that account, saying Hoffman approached “aggressively” and that McBride could not determine what object Hoffman held in his raised hand. Simmons says McBride raised his arm defensively and that the gun discharged when the men made contact.
That explanation is disputed both by Hoffman and by the way he describes his movement when the shot was fired. Hoffman says he did not raise his hands toward McBride and was turning away after seeing the gun. Police confirmed that he was struck in the lower back. Investigators also found McBride’s handgun with a cracked, partly broken trigger guard, according to reports citing court records. McBride had a spent shell casing in his pocket and told investigators that he picked it up to preserve evidence. Public reporting has not disclosed a definitive forensic finding establishing whether the weapon discharged because of contact, a deliberate trigger pull or some other mechanism.
The aftermath is disputed in smaller but potentially relevant ways as well. McBride said he did not at first realize Hoffman had been hit. Court records say McBride told Hoffman to get up and leave before understanding that he could not move. Hoffman has said McBride picked up his cellphone and the casing and went back toward his house. Simmons says that did not happen and that McBride stayed at the scene. The attorney says McBride’s wife found Hoffman’s phone nearby and returned it when Hoffman wanted to contact his family. Court records say McBride’s wife called 911 after seeing the injured man and was involved in getting medical help.
The case has since moved from the street to the criminal courts. McBride was arrested and initially booked on aggravated assault and disorderly conduct involving a weapon. He posted a $150,000 bond. A judge later denied a request that would have allowed him to travel after finding him to be a flight risk, according to local reporting. McBride was subsequently formally charged by a grand jury and entered a not-guilty plea. His attorney says the evidence will show McBride believed he faced an immediate threat and acted defensively. Prosecutors have not publicly resolved the conflicting accounts through a trial, and the charges remain allegations.
Hoffman has largely framed his public comments around recovery rather than punishment. Asked about McBride, he told FOX 10 that he would leave the question of punishment to the judge rather than call for a particular sentence. His immediate concerns are more personal and concrete: rehabilitation, mobility and the future he had expected before Sept. 13. The shooting also left him dealing with nightmares, he said, adding an emotional burden to the physical work of adapting to his injury.
Hoffman’s most immediate milestone remains outside the courtroom. He continues rehabilitation while facing uncertainty over how much mobility he may recover, and no public medical update has resolved whether he will walk again. The criminal case against McBride is proceeding separately, meaning Hoffman’s physical recovery and the legal determination of responsibility will continue on different timelines.
Author note: Last updated Oct. 21, 2026.