A Shelton man is accused of shooting his neighbor’s landscapers with a pellet gun because he thought they were too noisy when he was trying to sleep, according to police.
Police responded to Tuckahoe Drive around 10 a.m. Thursday after receiving reports that people had been shot with a pellet gun and spoke with the landscapers who were working on the street.
They said they had been shot several times with a pellet gun, showed their injuries to the officers and told them they saw a man without a shirt in a window who had what appeared to be a rifle, according to police.
Officers responded to the address and said they learned that 48-year-old Jeffery Pate was sleeping and was upset that the landscapers were making too much noise, so he shot them with his .177 caliber pellet gun rifle, striking them several times, police said.
Pate was arrested and charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm, third-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree breach of peace.
He was released and is due in Derby Superior Court on Oct. 3.
