Moviegoers question theater security after Newport leaf blower prank

A prank with a leaf blower that sent audience members scrambling out of a Newport Beach theater on Saturday night has some local moviegoers joining a national debate about security at cinemas.

When Kalyn Long heard the revving of a motor during a late-night screening of “The Gift” at Edwards Big Newport 6, she momentarily thought it was part of the thriller’s soundtrack.

But when she looked across the theater from her seat in the second row, she realized something was wrong.

“I just turn over and I see complete fear in people’s faces and they get up and start running out,” said the 27-year-old Newport Beach resident.

The crowd was fleeing from someone who had burst into the theater through an exit door intended for emergency use and started a leaf blower, holding it over his head and yelling, police said.

“It appears they were trying to lead people to believe there was a weapon,” Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella said.

Indeed, many moviegoers initially thought the device was a gun or a chain saw.

“It is no exaggeration at all to say that as soon as I saw people scurrying, I felt that we were in mortal danger,” audience member Katrina Wolfe said. “My boyfriend thought the same — we felt that we could absolutely be killed.”

As the couple fled on their hands and knees, Wolfe said her mind fixed on the 2012 theater massacre in Aurora, Colo., where gunman James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 70 more after entering through an emergency exit. Holmes was sentenced to life in prison the day before the leaf blower scare in Newport.

Movie theater security has been the subject of increased scrutiny in the wake of such tragedies, including one last month in a Lafayette, La., theater where a gunman killed two people and injured nine others before killing himself.

Saturday’s incident in Newport Beach ended with a few minor injuries to moviegoers who were trampled in the rush to escape. But the safety issue became immediately personal to some who feared for their lives.

Regal Entertainment Group, which owns Edwards Big Newport 6, did not respond this week to questions about its security measures.

Long and Wolfe said they were surprised when employees searched their purses before they could enter the theater.

Wolfe said she and others later asked employees how someone managed to get in through a supposedly secure emergency exit.

“Some people started pretty much screaming at the manager,” Long said. “People were heated and really angry.”

Police believe someone inside the theater opened the exit door to let in a co-conspirator carrying the leaf blower. On Wednesday, investigators were questioning four people who they believe are connected to the event.

Opening the exit door triggered a silent alarm that alerted management, Manzella said.

Long and Wolfe said they realized what was going on only after people began running. Long said an audible alarm would have been helpful.

Theaters likely are reluctant to have noisy alarms sound any time someone opens an emergency exit, said Michael Dorn, a security expert and executive director of Georgia-based nonprofit Safe Havens International.

“If you’re in the middle of watching a movie and some idiot goes out the door and disrupts your experience, that’s a concern theaters have,” he said.

But, he said, there’s a readily available solution.

Many airports and schools use clearly marked panic doors that open – and sound an alarm – only after someone presses the release bar for 15 to 45 seconds. One of those doors can cost a few hundred dollars to $1,500, he said.

Dorn, whose organization focuses on schools, said he has received a flood of calls lately about whether movie theaters should install metal detectors.

He cautioned against that unless theaters are prepared to do it right, which Dorn believes requires a walk-through detector with a staff of three people, including one carrying a firearm to prevent an intruder from shooting through the checkpoint.

“If you’re just going to buy a couple of metal detectors and slap them in and put up a facade of safety, that’s a bad idea,” Dorn said.

A less-costly deterrent could include a small number of armed security guards and a staff trained to spot concealed weapons.

Long said she would welcome more security guards and routine checks from staff.

“Seeing that presence there would probably make me feel safer,” she said.

But at least for now, she’s staying away from theaters.

“I’m not going to go to the movies for a while probably,” Long said. “I’m a little scarred.”