Santa Shot In The Back During Toy Giveaway [Video]

A man in a Santa Claus costume who was participating in a toy giveaway was shot in the back with a pellet gun on Christmas Eve. The incident was filmed by a local TV news crew who happened to be covering the event.

The Santa shooting incident occurred today on Stevens Road in the Barry Farm section of southeast Washington, D.C. “D.C. police said they had not made any arrests but suspect that the pellet gun was fired from a line of apartment buildings flanking Stevens Road.” The local ABC affiliate, WJLA Channel 7, added that “Witnesses at the scene report hearing two shots. Police believe they came from a second story window in a nearby building. The one pellet struck Santa as he walked through a crowd that included children.”

Santa, who was identified in multiple media accounts as Xavier Hawkins, couldn’t get the words “Merry Christmas” out of his mouth before he was shot. You can see in the video that Hawkins — who reportedly has officiated for seven years at the annual Barry Farm gift giveaway sponsored by the global moving firm Interstate — was in extreme pain after being shot in the back.

Hawkins was treated by first responders at the scene and then later treated at a local hospital and released. Hawkins wanted to stay for the gift giveaway, but EMTs insisted that he be examined at the hospital, where a pellet was removed from his back. Another Interstate employee dressed as the Grinch saved (rather than stole) Christmas in this context by actually handing out about 1,800 toys to the kids in Santa’s absence. The Marine Corps collects the gifts through the Toys for Tots program, and Interstate employees wrapped about 800 of them for distribution to kids in the Barry Farm area.

Said Hawkins about the Santa shooting incident: “Thank God I’m living and it’s not a real gun…I’m very grateful that no one else got hit — especially the kids.”