California father opened fire at teenagers who egged his house, reports say
A Northern California father is accused of shooting at a vehicle occupied by three teenage boys who had thrown eggs at his house and poured oil over his porch, according to local reports.
The alleged incident occurred on the morning of May 25 in San Mateo, California, authorities said. Officers investigated a "shooting into an occupied vehicle stemming from alleged bullying and/or harassment," according to the San Mateo Police Department.
"Ultimately, a person was placed under arrest for multiple violations," the San Mateo Police Department said in a statement on May 28. "Luckily, no involved parties were injured, but the impact of bullying in this situation, and many other situations like it, will likely continue to significantly impact the involved parties for some time."
Craig Steven Miceli, 54, was charged with three counts of assault with a firearm with additional firearm enhancements, one count of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle, one count of illegal assault weapon, and one count of possessing an assault weapon, online court records show. He pleaded not guilty to all charges during his arraignment on May 27.
Prosecutors accused Miceli of opening fire at an SUV carrying three boys — ages 16 and 17 — on May 25, The Mercury News and KRON-TV reported. Miceli told police officers that the teens' pranks had angered him and that his daughter had been a victim of bullying at the high school, the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office said, the news outlets reported.
Miceli was ordered to have no contact with the three teens, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 9, according to online court records. Following his arrest, Miceli remained in custody on $25,000 bail, but records show he had posted bail on May 29.
The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to Paste BN's request for comment on May 29. The San Mateo Police Department declined to further comment on the case, citing the district attorney’s office handling of the case.
San Mateo is an affluent city located in Northern California and is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region. The city is about 20 miles south of San Francisco.
Reports: Teens were targeting classmate with pranks
The three boys had spent last weekend driving around San Mateo "pulling pranks on classmates from Hillsdale High School," the district attorney’s office told The Mercury News and KRON-TV. In one instance, prosecutors said the teens traveled to Miceli's home on May 23 and spread oil on the porch.
The boys returned shortly after midnight on May 25 and threw eggs at the residence, according to The Mercury News and KRON-TV. As the teens drove away from the home, Miceli fired two shots at their vehicle with a handgun, prosecutors claimed.
One of the bullets struck the passenger side of the vehicle, hitting the quarter panel, The Mercury News and KRON-TV reported. Responding officers stopped the vehicle, and Miceli told police that "his daughter had been the victim of constant bullying at the high school and how angry he was having to spend time cleaning oil off the porch,” according to the district attorney's office.
Miceli also told officers that he was attempting to shoot at the vehicle's tires and threw the handgun into a local pond, according to The Mercury News and KRON-TV. Police later served a search warrant at Miceli's home and discovered an illegal automatic rifle and a variety of ammunition.
"It's the response that's the crime. You do not get to take a firearm out and point it at a car with human beings in it and fire," San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said in an interview with ABC7 News.
Police have urged those experiencing bullying to contact authorities, who will "provide every resource available to help prevent another potentially tragic event from occurring."
Latest incident involving prank gone wrong
The shooting in San Mateo is the latest incident in the United States in which pranks have turned violent and, in some instances, fatal.
Earlier this month, a Virginia teenager was allegedly shot and killed by a homeowner while filming TikTok prank videos with friends, according to authorities and a search warrant obtained by Paste BN. The teen's friends told authorities that they were recording videos of them doing a "ding dong ditch" prank when they were shot at on May 3, the warrant states.
The homeowner was identified as Tyler Chase Butler, 27, who was arrested on May 6 and charged with several crimes, including second-degree murder.
In May 2024, an 18-year-old was shot in the back and left paralyzed after participating in a "senior assassin" prank trend in Kansas. The teen had been shot by another teenager's father, who was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
A former Delaware State Police trooper was accused of "brutally beating" a 15-year-old who had played the "ding dong ditch" prank on the trooper in August 2023, authorities said at the time. Dempsey R. Walters was sentenced to one year in prison in October 2024, the Delaware News Journal, part of the Paste BN Network, reported.
And in July 2023, a Southern California man was sentenced to life in prison for ramming into a vehicle carrying a group of teenagers who played a doorbell prank on him in 2020. Three boys were killed in the crash while three others were injured.
Contributing: Melina Khan and Anthony Robledo, Paste BN