4 shot at theater Christmas night

MOBILE, AL (WALA) -
It was a usually peaceful holiday, and busy movie day, when at least five shots rang out at a local movie theater. Mobile Police say four people were shot in the parking lot just after 10 p.m. Christmas night. Police say the two shooters, who are possibly juveniles, ran away from the scene.
Frances Carr was at the theater picking up her daughter around the time of the shooting. She says she felt uneasy with the huge crowd of people standing in front of the doors, when a fight broke out.
She said, "You could just feel it, it was getting scary...I heard fight! And people were throwing bottles at people, I heard children screaming and scattered like ants, it was scary."
Her daughter, Molly, was getting out of her movie just before the shooting, and says at one point police were inside the building.
"I just can't believe what happened was on Christmas," she said. "You'd think it'd be any other day except Christmas."
Police say the victims include two 14-year-olds, an 18-year-old, and another adult. Police tell FOX10 News both 14-year-olds, a boy and a girl, were shot in the leg and an 18-year-old boy was shot in the abdomen, hip, and thigh. The other adult man was shot in the abdomen. Authorities say their injuries are not life threatening, and all four were taken to the hospital.
Even though it was a chaotic scene last night, the theater is open and operating as usual.
Shannon Sailors, director of advertising for the Carmike Cinemas chain, said Saturday the matter was "an isolated incident on the outside of our complex. The Wynnsong 15 is currently operating under normal business hours."
Witnesses say last night the crowd spanned the entire front of the building and spilled into the parking lot. They say it was hard to drive through it to see what was going on.
The theater is in Councilman Bess Rich's district, who coincidentally was at the theater earlier that day. She also says there was a large crowd outside the theater, and says she wants to know what type of security the theater had to control the crowd.
"I'm just wondering about the security system and the personnel that the theater had prior to the city's response about the shooting, which was a terrible incident...that's a horrendous incident for people to experience."
According to Sailors, it was expected the movie multiplex would have a large holiday crowd, so extra off-duty police officers had been hired and were available when the shootings happened.
"Due to anticipated crowds for the holiday, there was increased police personnel on duty at the time who responded to the situation immediately," Sailors told FOX10 News. "We activated our emergency action plan to ensure the safety of our guests and staff, which is always our highest priority."
Mobile Police could not give any details on whether the suspects know the victims. Police are still investigating a motive.
We have reached out to District Attorney Ashley Rich for comment and have also reached out to the theater, and have not heard back. The mayor's office tell us Mayor Sandy Stimpson is not commenting while the case is under investigation. Mobile Police Chief James Barber also isn't talking. We're told he'll give us an update on the case Monday.
Mobile Police say the four victims are helping them figure out the identities of the suspects. Anyone with information is asked to call Mobile Police at 251-208-7211.

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