Grantham — Police say they have located a 22-year-old New Hampshire man who they believe fired a rifle 15 times on a popular hiking trail in Grantham on Sunday, a situation that police say endangered nearby hikers.

New Hampshire State Police Trooper Michael McLaughlin said the man set up a makeshift target about 100 feet from a parking area in the Donas J. & Margaret Reney Memorial Forest and began shooting a rifle in a northerly direction toward another hiking trail. The man’s identify hasn’t been released because potential criminal charges are still pending,

“The initial investigation appears that this is just a really bad decision and a total lack of firearm safety,” McLaughlin said in a telephone interview on Monday.

Another man accompanied the shooter on the trail off Route 10 in Grantham, not far from Croydon, but that individual never fired any shots, McLaughlin said.

The shooter, who recently moved to the Croydon area from Massachusetts, is expected to face a felony reckless conduct charge, McLaughlin said. As of mid-day on Tuesday, he hadn’t been taken into custody.

The incident unfolded around 10:15 a.m. on Sunday when a “concerned citizen” approached McLaughlin, who was patrolling down the road from the forest.

The witness, whose name also hasn’t been released, told McLaughlin a series of shots had just rung out near the entrance to a network of hiking trails.

Some of the people in the parking lot began shouting out of confusion, and the commotion caused the suspect and his companion to stop firing, emerge from the woods and return to a vehicle, the release states.

“The trails are clearly marked as hiking trails and a large sign with a map is erected at the trailhead,” according to the release.

The concerned citizen spoke briefly to the two men before they left in a sliver SUV with Massachusetts plates.

With the help of surveillance footage at a store in Croydon, the two men were identified about four hours after the alleged incident, McLaughlin said.

As the shots were sounding, the witness talked to two female hikers with dogs as they exited the northern trail and returned to the parking area on the western edge of the 413-acre Reney forest. A male hiker exited after them, according to a news release issued on Monday. Police are asking those three hikers who were on the trail around the time that the shots were fired to call State Police at 603-419-0130.

“I don’t know if they realized they were in the line of fire,” he said. “I want to get their version of events.”

Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.