An Olivehurst man said he was defending his medical marijuana garden when he fired his shotgun in the middle of the night at an apparent intruder, according to the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies responded about 3:30 a.m. Thursday to a reported shot fired from a residence in the 1600 block of Broadway Road and contacted the owner, a man in his mid-40s who was not identified because the incident is still under investigation, said Sgt. Stephanie Murray.

The owner said he thought he saw a gun barrel poking through a backyard fence near his marijuana garden and heard a clicking noise as if the gun were being cocked, said Murray.

The man fired one time, hitting the fence. Deputies found shotgun pellets in the fence but no sign that anyone had been hit, she said.

“He said he was defending his property,” Murray said about the shooter, who was not arrested. He had a doctor’s prescription for the marijuana, she said.

A report will be forwarded to the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office after further investigation, she said.

At least two other Yuba-Sutter incidents involving medical marijuana gardens have occurred in September when plants are maturing.

In 2005, Olivehurst residents Christopher Michael Hance and Scott Eugene Davis were shot dead as they guarded a marijuana garden on Chestnut Road. Six people were charged with first-degree murder but none have been convicted on that charge. Three cases in Yuba County Superior Court are unresolved.

No one was injured in a September 2006 raid on a pot garden in Meridian that also resulted in six arrests. Cases against all six defendants are pending in Sutter County Superior Court.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young can be reached at 749-4710. You may e-mail him at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com