A day meant for relaxing and spending time with friends at the movies turned into a disaster. Sunday, August 28th was National Cinema Day. Many theaters celebrated by selling $4 movie tickets the whole day. One of the locations that participated was the AMC Theater at Baystreet Emeryville.
Initially, the day started calm. The mall was busy as usual, and shoppers were going about their business. However, at around 5 p.m., Bay Street was suddenly swarmed with roughly 300 teenagers. It didn’t take long before chaos erupted. Shortly after, multiple fights broke out everywhere, and at one point, a gunshot was heard. Although one individual was reportedly stabbed, their injuries were not critical. In a state of panic, crowds of people ran for safety trying to escape the disaster, and some store employees even went into hiding. The unfortunate event was caused by a social media post that had organized a meet-up at this location.
Police personnel showed up soon after the chaos broke out, and the crowd started to disperse at around 8:30 p.m. Many stores had to close earlier on Sunday, and the AMC theater remained closed on Monday morning. Police are investigating the situation and aim to hold those responsible accountable for their actions.