Man pulls gun in Kentucky movie theater after teen kicks seat

The man who pulled the gun at the Kentucky cinema was apparently upset at a 14-year-old boy sitting behind him who was kicking his seat. Photo / Getty Images

A moviegoer pulled a gun in a Kentucky theater this past weekend after a heated confrontation escalated, authorities said.

The encounter at the Cinemark theater happened late Saturday morning, police in Paducah, Kentucky, wrote in a Facebook post that detailed the altercation. The man was apparently upset at a 14-year-old boy sitting behind him who was kicking his seat.

The boy's father told police that his son was "kicking the back of the man's seat," according to a Facebook post from the Paducah Police Department.

"Witnesses said the man got up and cursed the youth, asking if he was going to continue kicking his seat," the post noted.

The man told investigators that he asked the boy "you going to be kicking my seat all f---- day?" a police report on the dispute noted.

The boy's father jumped in, and the two men began to fight, police said.

"As the father got the upper hand in the fight, witnesses said, the other man pulled a gun and said, 'What the (expletive) are you going to do now?' " police wrote on Facebook.

The father put his arms up and replied: "Nothing. I'm good," according to the police report.

Others in the theater scattered when they spotted the firearm, police said. A few people brought the armed man, who was from Illinois, out of the theater.

Authorities said this weekend that they expected to seek charges against the armed man.

"The man was barred from Cinemark property, and police will present their investigation on Monday to the McCracken County Attorney's office for charges," police wrote on Facebook.

Robin Newberry of the Paducah Police Department said in an email to The Washington Post that authorities were waiting to hear about charges Monday afternoon.

The West Kentucky Star reported that the confrontation occurred during a showing of Star Trek Beyond, though Newberry said that as she understands it, the film either hadn't started yet or had just begun.

Cinemark did not return a telephone message left Monday.

In 2014, one person was killed at a Florida movie theater when a man allegedly pulled out a gun after an argument about texting.