Police are investigating a Monday night incident in which someone threw a suspicious package into a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" at the AMC theater at the Eastridge Mall.
At about 11:55 p.m., a man opened one of the doors to the theater, threw a box into the aisle and screamed something — either an expletive or "bomb," "depending on who you talk to," police Sgt. Jason Dwyer said.
"In light of what happened in Colorado, the people decided it was time to leave," Dywer said, referring to the .
Dwyer said that by the time police arrived, movie theater management had already evacuated much of the theater complex.
After calling in a bomb squad and running tests, police determined that the package was harmless, Dwyer said. He described it as a box of garbage bags.
One officer took a photo of the box and showed it to a theater employee, who said it was the same type of box that holds the garbage bags used by the theater, Dwyer said.
Although the movie theater does have security cameras, Dwyer said police don't yet have a person of interest in the case.
"I would say it's a copycat ... but within that I would have to wonder what his intent was," Dwyer said.
A manager at the AMC Eastridge 15 said moviegoers who were evacuated can bring back their tickets and exchange them for new ones.
—Bay City News
