Teen accused of shooting ATF agent outside bowling alley denied bond: 'It's like we walked into an ambush'

18-year-old charged with shooting ATF agent

FOX 13's Ariel Plasencia reports that Christopher Smith, the 18-year-old accused of shooting an off-duty ATF agent outside a Riverview bowling alley, will remain behind bars after a judge denied him on Jan. 2nd.

TAMPA, Fla. - The 18-year-old accused of shooting an off-duty ATF agent outside a Riverview bowling alley, leaving him severely injured, will remain behind bars for now.

On Thursday, a judge denied bond for Christopher Smith, who is accused of shooting ATF agent Matthew Murray outside a bowling alley on Big Bend Road last Friday night.

During Smith's pre-trial detention hearing, Matthew Murray's wife, Courtney Murray, told a judge that she and her husband, their kids, and a few family friends had just finished a fun night at The Alley at Southshore and were standing near the front door when they saw two males and one female start fighting.

Courtney Murray, the wife of ATF special agent Matthew Murray, who was shot outside of a Riverview bowling alley last Friday testified at the suspected shooter's pre-trial detention hearing on Thursday morning.

Courtney Murray, the wife of ATF special agent Matthew Murray, who was shot outside a Riverview bowling alley last Friday, testified at the suspected shooter's pre-trial detention hearing on Thursday morning.

"It was automatically people trying to start a fight and my husband trying to deescalate it right from the start," she stated. "Right as we walked out the door. It’s like we walked into an ambush almost."

Courtney Murray told the courtroom that her husband, who was off-duty at the time, identified himself as law enforcement to the group, and told them all to go home.

"He was telling them just to go home. He said, ‘I’m law enforcement. You guys just need to leave,’" Courtney Murray stated.

Investigators testified that Courtney Murray told them a bottle or cup was thrown at her husband.

Surveillance video from the bowling alley was shown in court on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Smith told investigators that Matthew Murray hit him in the shoulder.

"(Smith) stated that he blacked out and shot (Murray) once," Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Det. Keaton Bruce testified.

Courtney Murray added that her husband is in the Intensive Care Unit at an area hospital in critical condition with permanent paralysis.

Christopher Smith, 18, appears in a Hillsborough County courtroom on Thursday morning.

Christopher Smith, 18, appeared in a Hillsborough County courtroom on Thursday morning.

Smith was arrested at a nearby home several hours after the shooting. However, authorities say the firearm used to shoot Matthew Murray has not been located.

Investigators noted that Smith appears to walk in the same way that the suspected shooter does on the surveillance video and seems to have some sort of limp.

Smith’s defense team did not present any witnesses Thursday. Instead, they argued that the teen had no prior record.