By Tim Binnall
Much to the chagrin of a truck owner in New Orleans, a mannequin kept in the vehicle to deter thieves backfired spectacularly when it terrified some would-be burglars who opened fire on the vehicle. According to a local media report, the wild incident (seen in the video above) occurred this past weekend when a group of sticky-fingered ne'er-do-wells was breaking into cars along a street in the wee hours of the morning. Their petty pillaging took an explosive turn, however, when the miscreants arrived at a Toyota truck and encountered an unexpected 'stranger' that had them reaching for their guns.
To the crooks' profound surprise, a mannequin wearing a Michael Myers mask sat in the passenger seat of the vehicle. The figurine proved to be so frightening that it caused one of the armed bandits to open fire on the truck. In a strangely admirable show of solidarity, the fiend's friends soon followed suit, and the group ultimately wound up shooting the vehicle dozens of times. When the dust finally settled, the truck resembled something out of a cartoon, sporting a staggering 20 bullet holes.
As one might imagine, the incident rattled neighborhood residents who were roused from their sleep by the gunfire. "I was trying to convince myself it was fireworks or something, but it was just so many shots," said Anna Hedstrom, who lives across the street from the vehicle that was turned into proverbial Swiss cheese. To that end, the owner of the truck, who opted to remain anonymous, expressed regret over the botched break-in deterrent, musing that it was "definitely not a good idea in hindsight."