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A man was hospitalized Monday afternoon after being shot by his neighbor, who was attempting to kill a squirrel, Tulsa County sheriff’s deputies said.

The neighbor was shot in the back in the 5200 block of West Skyline Drive just after 3:30 p.m., Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Billy McKelvey said.

Fred Twist, 66, told deputies he was renovating his gazebo and has been having problems with squirrels while doing so. He said he had caught a couple of squirrels in the past and went to the attic to catch another one, McKelvey said.

But “he shot at the squirrel, not realizing his directions got a little bit confused and not realizing he was shooting toward people that were working on his gazebo,” McKelvey said.

Initially, deputies thought Twist had wounded one of the men working on the gazebo, but they realized later Monday that the victim was a next-door neighbor who McKelvey said had known Twist for 20 years. He was taken to a hospital for treatment, but his injuries weren’t life-threatening, McKelvey said.

Twist was not arrested but received a citation for reckless endangerment with a firearm, McKelvey said.