A North Carolina man said this week that he was forced to shoot his son in the chest because he was possessed by “demons.”

According to the Gaston Gazette, the 78-year-old Gaston County man told police that he woke after midnight on Tuesday morning to find his bed doused with a flammable liquid and his son was standing over him.

In his call to 911 dispatchers, Ralph George Wilson said that he fired a warning shot into the wall first.

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“I got a bipolar boy trying to set my house on fire last night, and he’s doing it again,” Wilson explained. “And he come at me, and I shot him.”

“It was either me or him, and I’m going to protect myself. I’m tired of it,” he explained. “He’s demon possessed… The demons are tormenting him. He tells me all the time they’re tormenting him. He’ll cry like a little baby.”

“When they attack him, he goes crazy.”

During the 911 call, Wilson said that his wife had stepped outside because their son had left the house after being shot.

“Go tell him he better call on the Lord. Go tell him to pray,” Wilson instructed his wife. “His soul’s going to be lost. You better tell him.”

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“You shouldn’t have shot him in the chest,” the wife replied as the son screamed in the background.

“I didn’t know I was shooting him in the chest,” Wilson admitted. “I tried to shoot him lower. I don’t know nothing about guns, but I have to protect myself.”

Police in Gaston County said that shooting appeared to be self defense, but the investigation was continuing. The son’s injuries were described as non-life threatening.

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The entire 911 call is available here.

Watch the video below from WWMT, broadcast Feb. 5, 2015.