A 78-year-old woman was shot inside her Red Lion home early on Saturday morning by her husband who thought she was an intruder, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Joan Reichard was in stable condition at York Hospital, with what police described as a non life-threatening gunshot wound to the chest.

The shooting, which few neighbors said they heard on the quiet borough street, was said to be a "pure" accident, according to Trooper Brent Miller, a state police spokesman.

Reichard and her husband were the only two home at the time, police said. Their two-story home sits in the 300 block of West Maple Street at Neff Street.

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Sometime around 3:30 a.m., Reichard's husband called 911 and reported that he had accidentally shot his wife, believing she was an intruder, police said.

Reichard was shot inside a bathroom with a small handgun, Miller said. He said "something startled" the husband, but he did not have any more details on what led up to the shooting.

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Miller said the man suffers from medical issues and attributed those as a factor in the shooting.

State investigators were discussing the shooting with the York County District Attorney's Office on Saturday morning, but said his department was leaning against any criminal prosecution.

Miller is not releasing the husband's name until word comes back from the DA's office.

"It's obviously a sad situation," Miller said, adding that it's a reminder for residents to be safe with their firearms.

'Never in a million years'

Neighbors on West Maple Street described Reichard and her husband as the ever-active, friendly couple on the block.

"They're the nicest people," said Sandra McCarthy, 55, who lives across the street.

McCarthy was awakened by flashing police lights around 3:30 a.m. Her first thought was that someone fell inside the house. She said she saw Reichard taken out of the home by medical technicians. It wasn't until later that she learned what happened.

"It's a shame," McCarthy said. "Everybody's just very surprised."

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Neighbor Cameron Gemmill expressed similar sentiments.

He, like other neighbors interviewed, did not hear a gunshot and was surprised even his dog didn't jump up and start barking.

Gemmill said the married couple has lived there since before 1997 when he moved in across the street with his family.

The couple kept their property in pristine order -- sometimes Reichard mowed the lawn, sometimes her husband mowed. And they were always out gardening.

He said the couple also frequently watched their grandchildren and would buy Girl Scout cookies from his daughter.

Like McCarthy, he, too, thought someone hurt themselves possibly by falling when he saw troopers outside.

"Never in a million years would I have thought this," he said, referring to the shooting.

Just the other day, quiet Red Lion was the scene of another emergency incident.

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Gemmill says a helicopter was buzzing above his home and people on ATVs were driving up -- an hours-long search for a missing elderly York Township man was underway. That man was later found.

Still, Saturday's shooting was surprising and unexpected, Gemmill said.

"It's sad," he said. "Accidents happen."