Imagine that you’re out for a leisurely bike ride with the wife and kid. Oh, the kid’s only three years old, so he’s in one of those attachable seat things. That seems like a perfectly normal, innocuous scenario; only people with the most effed-up imaginations would conclude it with taking a bullet to the head from a total stranger.

(Oh, did we mention that this guy shows up in your scenario? That’s important, because you’re going to need to account for things going horribly and insanely wrong at some point.)

That’s precisely what happened to one Asheville, NC, man, though. One driver thought he was putting his kid in danger by biking on a busy road. Apparently, he decided that what the conversation really needed was a demonstration of what’s really unsafe.

Via WYFF:

Police said the driver, Charles Diez, claimed he was upset that the victim was bike riding with his child on the heavily traveled Tunnel Road.

Diez pulled a gun and opened fire, hitting the victim in his bicycle helmet, according to police.They said the bullet penetrated the outer lining of the helmet but did not actually hit the victim’s head.

That can’t be pleasant.

For his efforts, Diez was charged with first-degree attempted murder as well as a $500,000 bail.

Here’s the kicker, though; Diez is a firefighter. The specific job title, though, isn’t as important as the fact that he works in a government job. Why is that important? Because he’s been placed on paid administrative leave. Yes, he’s still getting a paycheck.

So here’s the real moral of the story: even accusations of reckless gunplay leading to attempted murder aren’t enough to get you fired from a government job.