“I thought, I’m going to die”.
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“The suspect yelled, shook the leaf blower, and revved the leaf blower’s engine to create a loud and disturbing noise”, according to the news release. Police in Orange County said that with all the shootings and killings that happened in theater in the past, they are taking this pranks as serious as it can be.
Newport Beach Police Department’s Dispatch Center received several 9-1-1 emergency calls in reference to a disturbance at the Newport Center Drive theater just after 10:50 a.m. Saturday, according to Jennifer Manzella, the agency’s spokeswoman.
Authorities said that at least one of the men was in the theater during the movie and opened an exit door so another person could enter with the leaf blower.
Investigators are searching for as many as three male subjects who “entered the theater with the intention of scaring movie-goers”.
Officers set up a perimeter and checked the theater and surrounding area, but the suspects had fled, the release said.
A injured moviegoer posted this image on Instagram from inside an ambulance after patrons fled a movie theater in Newport Beach.
“All of a sudden someone comes in screaming from the emergency exit … he waves something in the air and cranks it and everyone thinks it’s a chainsaw”, Kyndall Aldama said.
Aldama, who was seated in the middle of the theater, said she was pushed to the ground and trampled in the melee.
“You’re literally thinking (about) ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre, ‘ like there’s insane people out there”.
Moviegoers began rushing for the exits, and in their haste to get out of the theater, three people were left with what authorities described as minor injuries. No arrest have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
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“The fear that was incited in moviegoers was very much influenced by what’s going on in the rest of the country”, Manzella said.
