HOWELL, NJ — It was supposed to be a moment that helped make a friend’s New Year’s Day marriage proposal extra special. Instead, the fireworks set off near the Xscape Theatre in Howell have led to the arrest of a Lakewood man, Howell police said Wednesday night.
Nathan Sanders, 23, of Lakewood, was arrested Wednesday night after the incident that scared moviegoers and led to 911 calls reporting shots fired at the movie theater on Route 9, police said in an update on the department’s Facebook page.
The noise of the fireworks led to multiple calls, police said. At the same time, the movie theater manager confronted a man who lit the fireworks. Police found the remnants of the fireworks outside the theater.
Moviegoers, meanwhile, told arriving police officers where they believed the sounds were coming from.
Howell police, along with officers from the Lakewood and Jackson police departments, evacuated the theaters and initially detained moviegoers while they investigated what had happened. After hearing from the manager about the fireworks and finding no one injured in the theaters, they announced there had been no shooting. Sanders was arrested soon after.
During the investigation they learned Sanders had been at Climb Zone, next door to the movie theater, and that he had set off the fireworks while his friend proposed.
“There was no intent to cause panic to theatre patrons,” Howell police said. “Obviously this was a very poor decision, rather than an overt act.”
“We thank Lakewood Police Department and Jackson Police Department for their quick response,” Howell police said in their social media update. “We are also appreciative of the patrons for reacting quickly and by directing the officers to the theaters they thought were involved.”
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