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A northern Alberta man on trial for shooting an intruder who was stealing his ATV testified Tuesday he had fired into the air above the man and was only trying to scare him away.

Eugene Dalton, 62, has pleaded guilty to possessing a shotgun without a licence. He entered not guilty pleas to charges of aggravated assault, discharging a firearm with intent to harm, careless storage of a firearm and unlawful use of a firearm.

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Taking the witness stand in his own defence, the truck driver testified he was asleep at his home in Chard on July 6, 2014, when he was awakened by noise about 4 a.m.

Dalton told court he grabbed his shotgun, went outside and, after seeing a man on a quad driving toward him, he shot into the air.

“Just to scare him away so he would take off and leave,” Dalton said. “I was scared that maybe he was going to run over me.”

He denied intending to shoot the man. He testified that he didn’t believe he had shot him as the man jumped off the quad and ran quickly away into the bush and did not appear to be injured.

After shutting off the quad and locking it up, Dalton said he went back to sleep. He was called later by the RCMP, informed that he had shot someone and told to come out of his home and surrender.

“I was shocked. I didn’t know anybody had been injured,” said Dalton, a father of two sons. “I felt really bad.”