SAGINAW, MI — After taking a bullet to his chest inside an unauthorized marijuana growing operation, a Saginaw man briefly died. Medical professionals managed to resuscitate the man, though his spinal cord was severed.

Meanwhile, his alleged assailant — also his roommate and coworker — is a step closer to facing trial on allegations of attempted murder.

The preliminary examination of 51-year-old Owen M. Pipkins occurred the afternoon of Monday, July 1, before Saginaw County District Judge David D. Hoffman. Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa J. Hoover called one witness to the stand, that being Police Officer David Wheaton.

Wheaton is now with the Hampton Township Public Safety Department but was a Saginaw Police detective when he and other officers responded to a commercial building at 2006 S. Niagara St. around 9 a.m. on June 10. Pipkins had called 911 after claimed to have shot 42-year-old Jerry Bryant, Wheaton said.

The building contained a marijuana growing operation, owned by several people in partnership, Wheaton said. There were also two beds at the site, which Pipkins and Bryant apparently slept in.

Pipkins was outside when police and paramedics arrived. Bryant was taken to a local hospital while police took Pipkins into custody.

At police headquarters, Wheaton interviewed Pipkins, who waived his Miranda rights. Pipkins said he and Bryant worked together and lived at the Niagara Street site. Pipkins said they had previous altercations in which Bryant uttered slurs and came at him with a shovel, Wheaton said.

The morning of June 10, Pipkins was sleeping facedown in a boat at the location when Bryant came in yelling and screaming, he told Wheaton.

“He advised Jerry was calling him lazy and used a racial slur,” Wheaton said. Pipkins is Black, while Bryant is white.

Bryant grabbed the side of the boat and Pipkins blindly fired a handgun one time, Wheaton said Pipkins told him.

Pipkins did not indicate that Bryant had a weapon or was being particularly violent, Wheaton testified.

The bullet struck Bryant in his chest. Pipkins called one of the men who own the marijuana operation then called 911, Wheaton said. As Pipkins awaited officers’ arrival, Bryant told him he could not feel his legs, Wheaton said.

Wheaton later interviewed Bryant at Covenant HealthCare hospital.

“He was bedridden, wasn’t able to move,” he said of Bryant’s condition. Hoover added Bryant had to be resuscitated at the hospital.

Hoover called no additional witnesses. After Wheaton stepped down, she asked Judge Hoffman to bind Pipkins’ case over to Circuit Court for trial on charges of assault with intent to murder and felony firearm. Defense attorney Matthew M. Evans objected, saying no evidence was presented that his client intended to kill Bryant.

Hoffman sided with Hoover and bound Pipkins’ over to the higher court.

Pipkins has at least four convictions on his record, all of them from Sacramento, California. Three were from 1991, with the fourth being a 2015 conviction of carrying a loaded firearm in a public place. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail and three years’ probation.