WASHINGTON: Woman In Critical After Drunk Patron “Drops” His Gun During Showing Of Benghazi Movie

Seattle’s ABC affiliate reports:

A 40-year-old woman was critically injured Thursday when she was shot in the chest inside a Renton movie theater, police said. The shooting happened at around 8 p.m. at a movie theater at The Landing in Renton during a showing of the film “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.”

“It got about 15-20 minutes into the film and I believe the lady in front of us that got shot was actually talking to her husband or significant other and that’s when we heard the loud pop,” said one witness, who did not want to be identified. He was sitting 3-4 rows behind the man when the gun went off.

Just as witnesses realized it was a shooting, they saw the man make his way toward a nearby exit. “We saw the lady, she was laying on the bench with a shot in her upper chest,” a witness said.

Renton police believe the shooter may have been intoxicated at the time. “Preliminary accounts indicate that an intoxicated suspect entered one of the theaters and was fumbling with a handgun he had in his possession when it went off, striking another patron seated in front of him,” Renton Police said in a statement.

A 29 year-old man is in custody after his father called 911 to turn him in. The arrested man claims to have dropped the gun, but witnesses say they saw him “fumbling” with it during the movie.