NEWPORT BEACH (CBSLA.com)
Officers responded Saturday shortly before 11 p.m. after several 911 emergency calls about a disturbance at the Edwards Big Newport 6 movie theater complex in the 300 block of Newport Center Drive, according to the Newport Beach Police Department.
Witnesses told investigators between two to three male suspects had arranged to open the secured emergency exit door at the front of Theater #3 during a screening of the psychological thriller “The Gift.”
One suspects entered the theater through the emergency door, holding “some type of loud, handheld machine” later determined to be a leaf-blower over his head, police said.
The suspect yelled, shook the leaf-blower, and revved its engine to create a loud and disturbing noise, witnesses told investigators.
“You’re literally thinking (about) “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” like there’s crazy people out there,” one injured movie-goer said. “You’re in a theater, and you think you’re going to die.”
“People started screaming, and everybody got up and started running, like fight-or-flight, and some lady pushed me and I fell on the ground, and like seven or eight people trampled over my leg, and over my head.”