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SALT LAKE CITY — An "escape room adventure" got a little too close to real-life this week when somebody outside the business mistook an actor with a gun for an armed robber and called 911.
Salt Lake City police Det. Dennis McGowan said the midday call Wednesday drew a significant police response to Mystery Escape Room, located at 157 S. Rio Grande St.
"(The caller) saw a man with a gun inside the business in what appeared to be a robbery," McGowan said. "It's going to get everyone's attention, and everyone who's not absolutely prioritized elsewhere in the city — every officer — is going to show."
It was a moment of dramatic irony for workers and the owner of the business, who were in the middle of conducting an adventure called "Terrorist Warning."
Madilynn Dickie said she was in the control room at the time where workers monitor players via video monitors and interact with them as various characters.
"We say, 'Hey, this is the police department! Come out with your hands up!" she recalled. "A few minutes after we asked that question, somebody in the lobby shouted basically the same thing — 'Salt Lake City Police Department! Open up and come out with your hands up!'"
Dickie said the workers actually thought somebody in the front of the store was playing a joke.
She then peered around the corner and saw real police officers with guns drawn.
"The group responds with, 'We can't come out – there's a bomb on the door!'" Dickie laughed, referencing the toy bomb that was part of the adventure. "We kind of like walk out, like, 'Really? Really? Is this real?'"
It was definitely real moments earlier for police, who expected to potentially encounter a very dangerous situation.
(The caller) saw a man with a gun inside the business in what appeared to be a robbery. It's going to get everyone's attention, and everyone who's not absolutely prioritized elsewhere in the city — every officer — is going to show.
–Det. Dennis McGowan, SLCPD
"Police are going to come anticipating — mentally, physically — to engage some sort of armed suspect," McGowan said.
McGowan said officers cleared the business and realized it wasn't what the caller believed it was.
The caller, McGowan said, did the right thing to report what he believed to be a suspicious circumstance, even though it turned out to be business as usual at Mystery Escape Room.
McGowan said the business was advised to place a sign outside warning passersby about the theatrical dramatizations, something workers showed off on Friday.
Mystery Escape Room owner Les Pardew said the business prides itself on making its adventures life-like.
Other scenarios have haunted and "steampunk" themes.
"We try really hard to make sure that every room is as realistic as possible, so you hear those sirens going off — that's to simulate the police coming," Pardew said.
Pardew said the "Terrorist Warning" room has been open since July 3.
"It's a pretty intense little dramatization," he noted of the opening, which includes an actor posing as a masked gunman. "That was the first time anybody had reported it."
The police response was unexpected drama for the business that produces it.
"The police handled it really well," Dickie said. "They were really understanding, and I think they were trying not to laugh at the huge misunderstanding."
