An Evergreen man is facing a felony charge after authorities say he fatally shot two bear cubs outside his home Tuesday morning.

Dionne Waugh, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, said the man was awakened by two bears going through his trash cans.

He fired two rubber shotgun rounds at the cubs as he tried to shoo them away, Waugh said.

“During that time, his dog ran out,” Waugh said. “He was concerned about this dog’s safety and he fired a third round that was a live round. The live round struck the bear cubs.”

One of the cubs was killed instantly and the second was wounded and later euthanized by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

“The live round also struck a neighbor’s house and went into a window,” Waugh said.

The cubs’ mother fled into a nearby tree, officials said. Jefferson County Public Schools warned parents to pick up their children after classes.

“Do not walk home,” the district said in a tweet.

The man, whose identity was not immediately released, faces a felony charge of illegally discharging a firearm and two misdemeanor counts of hunting out of season

“We’ve been working with the (district attorney’s) office,” Waugh said.

Officials say late last month a Fort Collins man shot and killed a young black bear in his backyard after it started fighting his dog.

Black bears along the Front Range have been grabbing headlines the past several weeks after showing up in some unusual places. One even had an overnight foray into the heart of Denver.

“Since the second week of July, things went crazy,” Jennifer Churchill, spokeswoman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said late last month.

Last week, a female bear whose wanderings put two Arvada schools on lockout early Thursday was euthanized after being captured by wildlife officials.

Officials say the bears, who typically eat about 20,000 calories a day during the summer, are heading into Front Range communities because they are hungry.

A “localized food failure” in northeastern Colorado has bears “out looking hard for food,” Churchill said.

She added: “Anywhere west of Interstate 25 can be bear country.”

Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul