New details in case of man who threatened to shoot moviegoers at showing of ‘Wicked'

Court documents released Tuesday revealed new details in the case of a man charged with threatening to shoot fellow moviegoers at a showing of "Wicked" in Massachusetts over the weekend.

Ryan Muldoon, 34, of Lynn, is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, threats to commit a crime and disturbing the peace. He made an initial appearance in court Monday and was ordered held pending a dangerousness hearing Tuesday.

Included in the court filings is a police report with a detailed account of Sunday's incident. Patrolman Cory Capela wrote in the report that he was dispatched to the AMC Liberty Tree Mall 20 in Danvers around 3:05 p.m. for a report of a man saying he was going to "shoot the place up." The incident reportedly happened while the previews were playing before a showing of "Wicked."

Upon arrival, the officer said he met with a theater employee, who told him that two femals had come to the front desk and reported that the man sitting behind them, later identified as Muldoon, said he was going to shoot up the place. They provided the employee with their seat numbers and a description of the suspect, a male wearing a dark gray hooded sweatshirt with earplugs in.

The employee was able to locate Muldoon's seat and another employee went into the theater and confirmed that the man in the seat matched the description given by the two women. The employee told police that the two females who reported the incident said they didn't feel safe and left the area.

The employee then went into the theater and pointed Muldoon out to the officer, who asked the employee to turn the lights on in the theater and stop the movie. The officer said he approached Muldoon and told him he would have to come with him, and Muldoon complied and placed his hands in the air. He was detained and placed in handcuffs and escorted out of the theater.

As he exited the theater with Muldoon, the officer said he saw several families leaving the theater "visibly distraught from the incident."

Once outside the theater, the officer said he frisked Muldoon for weapons, at which point Muldoon exclaimed, "I don't have a gun," even though at that point no mention of a gun had been made to him. No weapons were found on him, according to the police report.

Muldoon denied saying anything in the theater that would have alarmed anyone, saying the only way they would have heard him say something "is if they were telepathic." When asked again, Muldoon said that he might have been rapping but he didn't know what song he was rapping.

He again denied saying anything about shooting up the movie theater, saying the two females who accused him of making the threat "were hitting on him."

At this point, the officer said he brought Muldoon to a secure area because he was raising his voice and a crowd was beginning to form. He informed Muldoon that he was under arrest for disturbing the peace, and Muldoon was taken back to the Danvers Police Department for booking.

The officer said he was later able to get in touch with the two females who initially reported the disturbance.

The first one described entering the theater and then sitting in their seats. Shortly after sitting down, she said they heard Muldoon say, "I'm going to shoot all of you in the head." The witness said she didn't feel comfortable and left with the second female to report the incident to guest services.

The second woman echoed the first woman's story, saying she heard Muldoon say "I'm going to shoot all of you in the head." She also said she felt a pit in her stomach and was afraid Muldoon was going to shoot them.

In court Monday, Muldoon's lawyer described the incident as a misunderstanding, saying his client had his headphones in and didn't threaten the other moviegoers with a gun.

"One might be humming along to music, singing along to music, or singing the lyrics of a rap song along with listening to the music before the movie started," the lawyer said.

The attorney also pointed out what the police report said, that Muldoon didn't have a gun on him.

At Tuesday's dangerousness hearing, prosecutors presented two witnesses, an AMC manager and one of the responding officers, who testified to the details included in the police report.

The defense cross-examined the two witnesses and tried to make a case that the accusations are hearsay, also noting that no one else in the packed theater came forward to corroborate the statements from the two witnesses who reported the incident to the theater employees.

The state countered that Muldoon has a history of violent behavior, including a stabbing and previous threats to shoot people.

NBC10 Boston's legal analyst, Michael Coyne, said in cases like these, the argument for free speech goes out the window and an argument for assault with a dangerous weapon can stick.

"If in fact he made that threat with the intent to have these people put in fear of that battery, and they were in fact concerned about it enough that they reported it and then left the theater, well then that likely is an assault, and it very well may be an assault with a dangerous or deadly weapon even though he didn't ... at least they didn't find a weapon on him," Coyne said.

The judge took all of it into consideration and determined that Muldoon is dangerous to the public, ordering him held until his next hearing on Dec. 20.