HOULTON – A Monticello man will be charged with reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon after he shot into the North Branch of the Meduxnekeag River in Monticello, close to where two state employees were working.

Russell Brown, 39, admitted to Maine State Police on Monday afternoon that he had been target shooting from the old Bangor and Aroostook Railroad trestle into the river, but he said he never saw or heard the two Department of Conservation surveyors who were working along the river about 1,000 feet south of the trestle.

Dan Peers of Easton and Dan Edgecomb of Mapleton were conducting a forest inventory in the area. They said they had heard shots in the area all morning, but it wasn’t until about 12:15 p.m. that those shots came close to the two men.

Peers was in the river crossing to another survey site on the north bank when shots hit the water near him. He immediately yelled out that he was there, only to be answered by three or four shots in rapid succession that hit the water nearby and ricocheted off rocks.

“When [he] pulled a few more [rounds] off, that’s when I felt threatened,” Peers said Monday. “It was loud and it was close.”

Fearing for their safety, the two men left through the woods to get back to their truck parked on Station Road, rather than following the all-terrain vehicle trail they had used to get to the river.

Police located Brown on Monday at his home about a half-mile from the river on Route 1, using descriptions provided by people who saw a man walking on Station Road with a rifle.

Brown told police he had purchased the rifle Saturday and had taken it out target shooting on Monday, firing about 50 rounds at different locations, including about 10 shot from the trestle.

State police Sgt. Hugh Turner said Monday that from where Brown was standing on the trestle, he would not have been able to see Peers or Edgecomb. He said he did not believe Brown was shooting intentionally at Peers and Edgecomb.

Aroostook County District Attorney Suzanne Lilley said Tuesday that based on the oral report from state police, she had instructed them to issue a summons charging Brown with reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon.

Authorities will continue their review of the incident, she said.