Man says he was stabbed after watching biopic ‘Straight Outta Compton’
A 23-year-old man who was found stabbed in the chest in Anaheim told authorities the attack occurred a mile away from the movie theater where he said he watched the controversial biopic “Straight Outta Compton.”
The Anaheim Police Department received a report of a stabbing at Shell Gas at 2331 E. Katella Avenue about 9:30 p.m. Monday, Sgt. Daron Wyatt said.
When officers arrived and interviewed the victim, a transient whose name was not released, he said he was attacked in the parking lot of the Century Stadium movie theater in nearby Orange after watching “Straight Outta Compton.”
Officers went to the parking lot, which was about a mile away, and discovered “what appeared to be blood stains,” Wyatt said.
With a crime scene in Orange, the case was handed over to that city’s police department.
During the course of investigation, Orange authorities learned that the man took alcohol into the movie and was kicked out for being rowdy, Wyatt said. They also found that the alleged blood stains were not connected with the stabbing and that the man did not get the “two superficial lacerations” to the chest in Orange.
The case was punted back to Anaheim police.
“There’s no indication that the stabbing had anything to do with the movie,” Wyatt said.
But the stabbing did garner national attention. Movie theaters in major cities across the country ramped up security as a safety precaution for the film, which depicts gang violence and overt police harassment.
The stabbing typified the type of violent encounters officials and moviegoers feared. But officials stressed that they cannot connect the movie to this alleged crime.
Wyatt said he has been fielding calls from Wisconsin all the way to New York since early Tuesday.
“It’s only because of the movie,” he said. “Nobody typically cares about stabbings.”
The man was released from the hospital Tuesday.
Follow me @AngelJennings.
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