Atlanta police initially thought they could be heading to a murder-suicide.

Neighbors had heard gunshots coming from a home in a Buckhead neighborhood — a place not known for gunfire.

Then the officers found the dead squirrels.

It was good news that no people were dead but bad news for the man who, police say, shot and killed the squirrels.

The man, 61-year-old Sam Alston, was arrested this week on four misdemeanor charges, including two counts of reckless conduct and two counts of disorderly conduct, according to Fulton County Jail logs.

Alston is accused of using a shotgun to kill the squirrels in his back yard, presumably because they were eating from Alston's bird feeder, Atlanta police Maj. James Sellers said. The squirrels were found near the bird feeder, which was empty, Sellers said.

According to a police report, a child's playground in a neighbor's yard was in Alston's line of fire, about 20 yards away.

Police were called to Alston's home on Valley Green Drive on Friday morning. Officers initially considered breaking into the home to see if anybody was hurt inside, but ended up calling and speaking to Alston, who gave police his wife's phone number so they could make sure she was OK.

Alston admitted to shooting squirrels on Thursday night, the report said, and told officers he would return home to talk to the officers, saying he'd be there in 15 minutes.

More than an hour later, Alston hadn't showed up, the report said.

So police took warrants out for his arrest.

Alston could not be reached for comment.