Wayne Newton Says He Fired a Pistol Shot as Burglars Fled His Home
Wayne Newton testified on Tuesday in the trial against one of two alleged burglars, revealing for the first time that he shot a gun to scare away the thieves he, his wife and daughter encountered in their Las Vegas home last June.
The “Danke Shoen” singer, 77, recalled the gunshot to prosecutor Jory Scarborough, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. As he explained, he had been carrying his engraved five-shot pistol with him when he entered his home on June 13, 2018, and was encouraged by his wife, Kathleen McCrone, to fire at the burglars as they fled the scene.
“She said, ‘Shoot ’em, shoot ’em, there they are!’ ” Newton remembered McCrone saying, before telling the court, “I decided to take one shot in the air. That was the last time I saw them.”
This was the second time in 10 days Newton’s mansion had been robbed. The first time, on June 3, the Vegas legend wasn’t out of town in New York City. On June 12, he, McCrone, and their daughter Lauren Ashley, 17, had returned just before midnight and caught the thieves in the act.
Lauren had spotted them first, entering the home before her parents, according to Newton’s testimony, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. She ran back out to the car to tell her dad, who followed her into the house. McCrone remained outside and saw them as they fled the scene.
According to Newton, one of the suspects raised a tire iron to hit Newton. Before the burglar had the chance, the criminal was attacked by one of the family’s two Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs, and used the weapon to harm the animal instead, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. The other pooch chased the perps away but was also hit at some point, Newton said — the weapon knocking out the dog’s teeth on its left side.
Police later recovered a few items from the other side of the hedge wall on Newton’s property the robbers slipped through — including a watch, a white shoe, coins, and a bottle of Stefano Ricci cologne, the Associated Press reported.
Newton couldn’t identify the criminals, but a doorbell surveillance camera at a neighboring home that was also robbed pointed authorities to 22-year-old Weslie Hosea Martin. He was arrested last July after selling an inventory of items that matched those stolen from Newton’s home to a coin and jewelry business, the AP reported.
Martin has been charged with 11 felonies in the case, the AP reported, all of to which he’s pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces a habitual criminal sentencing.
The second suspect in the burglary has not been apprehended or identified, the AP reported.
Last June, Newton opened up to local ABC outlet 13 Action News about the break-ins.
“It’s a terrible thing for my wife and daughter to go through,” Newton said. “I’m angry as one could imagine.”
The Las Vegas entertainer — known by nicknames like Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment — has updated the security system at his Southeast Valley estate and hired a 24-hour armed guard, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
