One injured as birthday surprise goes wrong

One man was injured when a pensioner fearing a burglary shot at a group of friends trying to put up a poster to surprise his birthday-celebrating wife.Police in St. Georgen in Upper Austria’s Vöcklabruck district said today (Thurs) the 78-year-old had fired several shots in the direction the noise was coming from in his house’s garden last night.One bullet from the small bore rifle hit a 46-year-old’s thigh. The man and three other pals of the attacker and his wife had entered the garden secretly to put up a poster celebrating the woman’s birthday today.It has not been announced whether the injured man – now recovering in a clinic in Vöcklabruck – will launch legal action against the pensioner.The incident comes just one day after a short-sighted 83-year-old man from Lembach, Upper Austria, injured a 15-year-old moped rider with his air gun. Franz W. told officers he had been targeting magpies – which is illegal according to Austrian law.