LITTLETON, COLO. ? The man accused of wounding two middle school students in a community still haunted by the Columbine massacre had become increasingly erratic in recent weeks, yelling at imaginary friends and complaining that eating macaroni and cheese made too much noise, his father said Wednesday.

Investigators are looking into the bizarre behavior of 32-year-old Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood as they try to figure out why the unemployed ranch hand allegedly showed up at his old school and started firing at students in the parking lot before being tackled by a math teacher.

Eastwood’s father described his son’s recent strange behavior in an interview with The Associated Press at his ranch outside Denver.

The older man said that his son used to talk to himself a lot, but in the past month, he had begun yelling. The younger man also complained that the refrigerator was too loud and that certain foods made too much noise, his father said.

Others said Eastwood would show up at a nearby gas station to buy cigarettes, but was often 20 or 30 cents short, and would mumble to himself as he read the sports section of the newspaper.

“He has problems, but I never thought he’d go to the extent to hurt somebody,” said his father, War Eagle Eastwood. “You can say you’re sorry, but you can’t replace the fear and hurt he’s put in innocent people. He’s put a hole inside of me.”

Eastwood was jailed on $1 million bail on suspicion of attempted murder.

Residents were stunned by the thought of a gunman opening fire at a school less than three miles from Columbine High, where two teenagers killed 12 students and a teacher in the nation’s deadliest high school shooting. Parents rushed to the middle school, many unnerved by the sight of youngsters running for their lives just like on that day in 1999.