(1/5/99)
BATON ROUGE, La., (Reuters) -- A singing Christmas tree tattled on two teenage burglary suspects in Louisiana, leaving the boys with backsides full of buckshot rather than handfuls of loot, police said Tuesday.
Businessman Leon Wilson, Sr., 59, had been robbed twice last week, so he started sleeping in his store Friday night and set up a makeshift burglar alarm -- a motion-activated toy Christmas tree his wife had perched near the store's cash register. Wilson said the toy annoyed him everytime someone walked by. ``With its incessant singing, I just wanted to shoot someone. So I did,'' said Wilson.
When motion is detected, the tree's eyes pop open, its mouth moves and it calls out ``Merry Christmas, Everybody!'' before singing ``Jingle Bell Rock.'' Wilson set up the toy near the door and stretched out on a couch in the back.
Early Monday morning, the singing Christmas tree went off and he spotted two burglars near the cash register, armed with a crowbar they allegedly used to pry open the door, Wilson said.
``They spotted me and bolted for the door and I started shooting, aiming low cause I didn't want to kill them,'' he said. ``I don't think the Lord would have blessed me for that. But now, maybe, burglars won't come back here.''
Baton Rouge police said the two 16-year-old suspects, one with buckshot in his buttocks and the other with a minor leg wound, were arrested on burglary charges and released to their parents. Police did not identify the boys because they are juveniles.
Police said no charges were filed against Wilson, although the case will be forwarded to the district attorney for review.
The singing Christmas tree was unharmed.