‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ Performance Ends Abruptly After Panic Caused By Sounds Mistaken For Gunshots
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EXCLUSIVE: Tonight’s performance of To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway ended abruptly after backfire sounds heard on the street were mistaken for gunshots. A witness told Deadline that audience members panicked and started running down the aisles or ducking for cover, and cast members left the stage during the show’s final scene.
A source on the scene at the Shubert Theatre told Deadline the incident happened just before 10 p.m. ET and was exacerbated by frightened pedestrians dashing from the street into the lobby and nearby Sardi’s restaurant. Other theaters along 44th Street and 45th Street apparently also experienced disturbances, but that could not be immediately confirmed.
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The witness told Deadline the panic happened after a motorcycle on the street backfired two or three times.
Mockingbird actor Gideon Glick, who plays the Dill Harris character inspired by Truman Capote, tweeted that “screaming civilians tried to storm our theater for safety. The audience started screaming and the cast fled the stage”:
Stopped our show tonight due to a motorcycle backfire that was mistaken for a bomb or a shooting. Screaming civilians tried to storm our theater for safety. The audience started screaming and the cast fled the stage. This is the world we live in. This cannot be our world.
— Gideon Glick (@gidglick) August 7, 2019
Police had the situation contained and calm within five minutes, the witness said.
The NYPD’s Midtown North Precinct tweeted that it received “multiple 911 calls” about an “active shooter” but confirmed that the sound indeed was a motorcycle backfiring and that “the Times Square area is safe.”
There is no #ActiveShooter in #TimesSquare. Motorcycles backfiring while passing through sounded like gun shots.
We are recieving multiple 911 calls. Please don’t panic. The Times Square area is very safe! @NYPDnews @NYPDTimesSquare
— NYPD Midtown North (@NYPDMTN) August 7, 2019
Street sounds like this are commonplace at Broadway theaters, but tensions are high as the incident at the crowded venue came as Americans are on edge in the wake of two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, OH, that killed 31 people and wounded dozens more.
Here are some social media posts by people who say they were there:
Crouched on the floor of the Shubert Theatre during an astounding performance of Mockingbird fearing for my life. This is our world now. Open panic and ready for life shots. I’m still shaking and scared for our country.
— Merle Dandridge (@MerleDandridge) August 7, 2019
Well, just rushed out of the showing of To Kill a Mockingbird I was at because people thought there was an active shooter! There apparently wasn’t, but still, great times!
— Goy Division/Jew Order (@ben_geier) August 7, 2019
I was in the Shubert at the tail end of To Kill A Mockingbird. Loud screaming from the lobby and people started trying to burst through the doors into the show. Crowd panicked and ran out the emergency doors. The street was all running, so I ran until no one was running. https://t.co/uJRBNQO4oV
— Ranked Choice Now (@PeterTWalsh) August 7, 2019
Panic at Schubert Theatre at end of To Kill a Mockingbird. Someone thought shots fired. Actors ran off. Audience hit the floor. Apparently motorcycle backfired right outside. Badly handled by management.
— TexasX (@RRSilva107) August 7, 2019
Mike Fleming Jr. contributed to this report.
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