PA deer hunter who mistakenly shot neighbor in the head pleads guilty to endangerment
A Harris Township man who tried to shoot a deer but instead shot his older neighbor in the head pleaded guilty Friday.
Michael Lloyd, 41, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of recklessly endangering another person and one summary count of unlawfully taking or possessing game. Five charges were dropped.
The Centre County district attorney’s office plans to argue for Lloyd to be sentenced to three to 23 1/2 months in the Centre County Correctional Facility, while defense lawyer Brian Manchester may push for no less than two years of probation.
Lloyd’s hunting license would be revoked for five years, Centre County Assistant District Attorney Joshua Andrews said.
Lloyd said little during the hearing, only answering routine questions from Centre County President Judge Jonathan Grine.
Lloyd spotted a deer on a hill when he returned from a December 2021 hunting trip, State College police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause. He stopped at the bottom of his neighbor’s driveway and fired at least two shots from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.
Instead of finding the deer, Lloyd found his then 81-year-old neighbor bleeding in his driveway. He was providing aid when investigators arrived, police wrote.
Lloyd’s neighbor was flown by medical helicopter to UPMC Altoona for injuries that were not life-threatening. Part of his skull was removed during surgery, police wrote.
Lloyd estimated the deer was 10-15 yards up the driveway. Heavy brush behind the area where Lloyd said the deer was made the rest of the driveway difficult to see, police wrote. His neighbor was found about 140 yards from where investigators found shell casings.
There were 18 hunting-related shootings in 2021, the state’s lowest total ever reported by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Nearly three-fourths were inflicted by others.
The most common cause was a person being in the line of fire. Deer were being hunted in more than half of the shootings.
Sentencing is set for May 12.