A man was shot to death at a New Mexico movie theater following a fight over reserved seats at a movie screening this weekend.
The subject, identified as Michael Tenorio, 52, was shot inside the Century Rio Theater in Albuquerque on Sunday at 8:50 pm, when he was preparing with his wife to see Jennifer Lawrence’s romantic comedy, “No Hard Feelings,” according to the Albuquerque News Journal.
Tenorio was with his wife, Trina, and they bought seats 8 and 11 in row F of the theater, but an employee suggested that they sit together and ask the two people in seats 9 and 10 to give them up. , according to the criminal complaint.
When Enrique Padilla, 19, with his companion, arrived to sit in seats 9 and 10, the two couples began to fight over the change of seats, causing an employee to intervene, and the situation escalated when Padilla threw him a container with popcorn to Trina Tenorio on top of the head, added the complaint collected by Albuquerque.
According to witnesses, the fight continued around 9:00 p.m., when Tenorio allegedly yelled at Padilla and pushed him against the wall.
Moments later, gunshots rang out, filling the theater with smoke, sending many spectators running through the emergency exits.
An off-duty police officer was in the theater at the time of the shooting and performed CPR on Tenorio, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina.
After the shots were fired, Padilla fled the theater through the emergency exit, but was found hiding in some nearby bushes, presenting a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Authorities did not say how Padilla was shot, but a casing was found in the bushes that matched the casing at the movie theater, the complaint said.
Padilla was indicted Monday on one count of murder, shooting into an occupied home or building, and tampering with evidence.
With information from the New York Post
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