On the 7th Day of Christmas - Santa Gets 5 Bullet Holes
OXNARD, Calif. - Police were dispatched to the large Santa Claus statue here after shots were fired at it.
Officers found five bullet holes marring the jolly face of old St. Nick. Five 9 mm casings were lying on the street nearby, police said.
Mike Barber, Santa's caretaker, said the gunshots shattered the lenses on Santa's glasses and broke the frames. He and a friend used screws, glue and wire to patch the frames back together.
"A week before Christmas! This is totally unacceptable," Barber said. "You've got to be a pretty strange individual to want to shoot Santa Claus."
The 20-foot, nearly five-ton plaster Santa statue was moved in January 2003 from Santa Barbara County to the lot on Ventura Boulevard. The statue had stood for 50 years on top of a malt shop and candy store near Carpinteria.
- Ventura County Star
Copyright 2004, Scripps Howard News Service
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