Man Aiming for Woodchuck Shot Landscaper: Cops

A Westport man told police he was aiming at a woodchuck when he instead shot a landscaper, according to police.

Police started investigating on Saturday afternoon after receiving a complaint from a landscaper who said one of his employees had been shot while cleaning the grounds of Parent Child Center, at 90 Hillspoint Road, which was closed at the time.

The 52-year-old victim was hit in the left upper arm by a BB or pellet, which went through two layers of clothing, causing a minor injury, police said, and medics treated him at the scene.

Before calling police, the landscaper tried to find the person who fired the shot, but didn’t have any luck.

When police responded, they went to houses in the area, but no one said they heard anything.

On Monday, detectives responded to the center to investigate and went through surveillance video.

That’s when they noticed someone who they had earlier interviewed. The video showed the man arrive on the property and hide from the landscapers, police said.

After seeing that, they went to interview the man, Eric Lindhal, 25, of Hillspoint Road in Westport, and he claimed he fired a pellet rifle at a woodchuck on the property line several times and hadn’t been aiming at anything or anyone else, police said.

Lindhal told police he realized that he might have hit one of the workers when they came to his house, but didn’t say anything because he was afraid to.

He told detectives that he broke the rifle apart after the incident and threw it away.

Police retrieved the weapon from the trash can and charged Lindhal with second-degree endangerment and third-degree criminal trespass.

Lindhal was released on a Promise to Appear and given a court date of December 11, 2014 Norwalk Superior Court.

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