Santa's elf makes Christmas naughty list after threatening to dynamite Atlanta-area shopping center



Morrow, Ga., police say William Caldwell, a shopping center Santa's elf made threats involving dynamite.

BY Katie Nelson
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Thursday, December 3rd 2009, 12:11 PM

A bad Santa's elf swapped holiday cheer for fear when he waited in line for St. Nick in a suburban Atlanta shopping center and started babbling about "dynamite," police said Thursday.

The man, dressed in tights and a jingle bell-adorned red and green jacket, jumped in line to get his photo taken with Santa Claus Wednesday evening at Southlake Mall in Morrow, Ga.

Santa overheard the rogue elf use the words "dynamite" twice, prompting a call to mall security.

Mall security called in the local cops, who evacuated "several thousand" shoppers from the mall about 7 p.m. Bomb squads were called to search the elf's two duffel bags.

No dynamite ever turned up, only a Santa hat, an elf hat and other clothing that belonged to William Caldwell III, 45. He's a small man, at 5 feet tall, 108 pounds from Morrow, Ga., police said. He was arrested at the scene.

"He has made some statements - they didn't make much sense," said Morrow police Capt. James Callaway.

"We don't think there was any criminal intent on his part as far as trying to threaten anybody or blow the mall up. He never said, 'bomb', 'I'm going to kill you', or 'I'm going to blow it up', all he said was 'dynamite.'"

Caldwell is being held at a county jail on suspicion of creating false public alarm, reckless conduct and terrorist threats and acts.

Investigators haven't found a history of violence, and suspect Caldwell is mentally ill, Callaway said.

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