GASTONIA, N.C. -- A Gastonia homeowner says he shot a man through the door of his Log Cabin Road home early Tuesday because the man was trying to break-in.

"I just wasn't going to allow (the break-in) to happen. I had no idea what his intentions was and I wasn't going to find out," he said.

The homeowner, who didn't want to be identified because he's still frightened, says he was sitting in his house when some time after midnight one of his young children heard something at the front door.

"My oldest child alerted me that there was someone on the porch trying to get in," he said.

He grabbed his pistol and started walking to the door, but before he got there it began to open.

"I saw the door open and I began to fire. I purposely aimed down. I didn't want to kill nobody," he said.

The intruder came very close to getting inside, but instead ended up running to a car waiting nearby.

"I fired over their heads and scared them off," the homeowner said.

Police say a short time later the intruder was dropped off at Gaston Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds to one leg. He had to be flown to Carolinas Medical Center for treatment.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether the homeowner fired in defiance or self defense. Gun laws in North Carolina say homeowners are justified using any degree of force if they believe the intruder is a threat or think the intruder intends to commit a felony.