LEWISTON – A man who was being honored at a party marking his 65th birthday was fatally shot by his son, police said Thursday.

Roland Poirier, who owned L.P. Poirier & Son Inc. landscaping company in Lewiston, was shot in the neck at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday as he sat at the dinner table with a group of people while celebrating his birthday, police said.

Poirier’s son Scott Poirier appeared briefly Thursday in Androscoggin County Superior Court to face a murder charge.

Scott Poirier, 34, was taken into custody by Lewiston police shortly after they had been called to the home about the time neighbors heard a gunshot. Poirier was involved in his father’s business.

Police recovered the younger Poirier’s weapon, a .270-caliber rifle with a scope, according to an affidavit filed in court Thursday by police.

The affidavit said Poirier told police he stood in the backyard of his father’s home and shot him through the window.

The son hid the gun next to his sister’s home, which is located on the same street as the victim’s, according to the affidavit. The victim lived in the Grove Street home with his wife, Henriette.

Police did not discuss a possible motive for Poirier’s killing, and would not say who was in Poirier’s home at the time of the shooting. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“We heard a gunshot, and I thought it was somebody hunting. And then all of a sudden we heard screaming. … We knew something really bad happened,” neighbor Melissa Cook told WGME-TV. “I’ve never hard a screech like that before. I mean it was awful.”

Maine State Police detectives were working with Lewiston police on the investigation.