Shooter says he was aiming at birds, not agent

A man arrested for allegedly shooting at a U.S. Border Patrol agent in northwest Washington says he wasn’t aiming at the officer, but at crows.

Bail was set at $50,000 for 43-year-old Kenneth R. Ericson, of Sumas, Wash., who was booked in the Whatcom County Jail in Bellingham for investigation of second-degree assault.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Elizabeth Gallery told a court hearing Thursday that the agent was on patrol when he heard a crack like a gunshot coming from Ericson’s house Wednesday night.

Gallery says the agent heard two more gunshots and the sound of bullets flying over his car. Ericson was arrested on his patio holding a .22-caliber Marlin rifle.

Gallery says Ericson told officers they were overreacting and he was only shooting at crows.