Cleveland. Saturday, August 4. A man entered a theater, planning to see a 10pm screening of The Dark Knight Rises. He was early, so he entered the auditorium and sat by himself…and…he had a bag.
This presented enough suspicion to the manager of the Regal Cinema in Crocker Park, that he called upon off-duty police officer, Jeremiah Bullins, who was working security on site that evening.
The security officer entered the auditorium to find Scott A. Smith, sitting and waiting on the movie to begin. Bullins approached Smith and asked him to have a peek in the bag. Smith offered no resistance. Within it, the off-duty officer found a loaded Glock 9mm pistol, two fully loaded clips and 3 knives. In addition to the knives in the bag, Smith possessed a knife on his personage.
Bullins asked why the man brought the weapons into the theater, and Smith apparently answered:
“No problem. I’ll put them in my car.”
No. No he wouldn’t. He was arrested, and taken into custody, where he has refused to talk to police. It has been stated that Smith has a military background, yet no criminal record.
There are two ways to look at this: Scott Smith was fearful for his own safety, and brought along a small armament to be prepared in the event that the theater fell under attack, or he himself was planning to deliver an attack.
