A Putnam Valley man was shot by a process server delivering divorce papers Wednesday, police said.

Investigators said Douglas Greenwich, 52, answered his door at 33 Lincoln Road around 5 p.m. Greenwich immediately attacked the process server, 66-year-old Dennis Illuminati, of Carmel, with a police baton, investigators said.

"The process server is a licensed firearm carrier in New York State," New York State Police Cpt. Keith Corlett said. "He was armed with a .25-caliber weapon and he took it from his person and fired one round at the subject, striking him in the chest area."

Illuminati, a retired Kent police officer, accidentally fired another shot into Greenwich's chest during the following struggle, police said. Greenwich is in stable condition at Westchester County Medical Center.

"This looks like it may be a classic self-defense case," Corlett said.