Tom Hanks hires gunman to keep constructor's crew at bay!

New York, July 28 : Tom Hanks has hired a pistol-packing security guard to patrol his posh Sun Valley getaway to keep the constructor's crew away from his estate.

According to reports last month, the two times Oscar winning actor has been engrossed in money battle with Storey Construction, which built his home in 2002, for the past six years.

While earlier the star and his actress wife, Rita Wilson, withheld the final 3 million dollar payment, claiming "shoddy construction," they were later forced to pay up. Now they're appealing to get back 2.5 million dollars.

Now, Miles Stanislaw, the lawyer for contractor Gary Storey, who has the right to inspect the site to gather evidence for his defence, has said that his workers are horrified because Hanks has a guy with a semi-automatic and two clips of ammo eyeballing them.

"It's as hazardous a condition as you can have. The other day, the guard tripped and fell on a piece of plywood with his gun on him. It could have gone off and had fatal consequences. It is inconceivable a person like Tom Hanks, who claims to be the voice of the little people, could tolerate this," The New York Post has quoted the lawyer, as saying.

In response, Hanks' rep, Leslee Dart, said: "One security guard had to be hired after Storey tried to force his way onto the Hanks' property at 7 a.m., unannounced, with five pickup trucks full of his cronies. The one guard that was hired is an off-duty police officer who, by Idaho law, is allowed to carry a gun." Stanislaw called Dart's dawn raid allegation "a total fabrication."

Meanwhile, the security guard himself, Shane Gilbert, said: "I'm very well-trained and capable. Security guards don't pack heat just to go around shooting people." But he added he thinks the ongoing Hanks-Storey war is "a ridiculous battle. It's a big pissing match."

ANI