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PROVO — Provo police hope surveillance video helps them find a man who lit a homemade smoke bomb in a movie theater as a distraction while he robbed the place.
It was around midnight Sunday, and hundreds of people were at the Wynnsong Cinemas, at 4925 Edgewood Drive, enjoying a late night show when a man with a fake beard and a flat cap made his way up the stairs to the theater offices.
On his way up, the man was confronted by the manager, who asked him what he was doing. The man then made some sort of threat and started flicking a lighter.
The manager went to get help, the man continued his plan.
"Apparently the individual set off what our EOD team says is a homemade smoke bomb," said Provo Police Capt. Jerry Harper. "It caused the fire alarms to go off, so the theaters were evacuated."
"Once all the commotion started — the fire alarms were going off, the smoke started spreading through the building, and people were trying to get out of the theater here — that's when the suspect made his move for the cash," Harper said. "He kicked the door to the room that they had their cash in, took the cash and left."
The homemade smoke bomb was wrapped in duct tape and did not appear designed to explode.
As for the man's beard, police think it's fake because the he kept pushing it back up against his face as if it was about to fall off.
Police hope the surveillance video will help them figure out the identity of this bearded bandit.
Email: rjeppesen@ksl.com
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