UPDATE: Dane E. Gallion, 29, of Newcastle was charged Tuesday with third-degree assault after his handgun discharged at Regal Cinemas at The Landing in Renton Jan. 21 and wounded a 40-year-old woman in the shoulder. He had earlier been released on bail, which the judge increased to $100,000 Tuesday. His arraignment is 9 a.m. Feb. 4 at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A 29-year-old Newcastle man chambered a round in his 9 mm Smith and Wesson handgun at the Regal Cinemas at The Landing Thursday night because he was worried about mass shootings in public places.
He told an officer the gun discharged when a man sitting next to him grabbed his crotch, according to court documents, striking another theater-goer, a 40-year-old woman, in front of him in the shoulder.
She was transported to Harborview Medical Center and reportedly has been released.
The Renton Reporter isn’t naming the suspect because he hadn’t been charged as of mid-day Monday.
Initial court documents explain what happened after having a 22-ounce beer and pizza at a pizzeria in The Landing. The man took a medication in the morning for anxiety.
After the pizza and beer, he went to the theater at about 8 p.m. A manager says he stumbled in the door and walked to theater 9, where “13 Hours” was showing. It’s the story of a private security force that defended the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya.
He sat in the middle of the theater, chambering a round in his 9 mm handgun which was unholstered in his waistband. Someone sitting next to him was bothering him but he couldn’t tell a detective exactly how when interviewed at the police station, according to court documents.
Earlier he had told an officer the man had touched him in the crotch.
He continued to tell the detective that his gun accidentally went off in his pants, scaring him. He denied handling the gun when it discharged.
During the interview at the police station, he pulled down his sweatpants at the request of the detective, who didn’t see any injury or powder burns on his right side.
After the gun fired, he left because he feared others would think he was the suspect in a mass shooting, according to court documents. The theater manager told officers that on the way out the suspect, still stumbling, dumped a handgun magazine in a trash can in the theater.
Officers later found a 9 mm Smith and Wesson magazine in the trash, as well as a single spent shell casing and a bullet under a seat in the middle of the theater.
At about 9:30 p.m. family members called the King County Sheriff’s Office dispatch to report that the suspect had returned home, upset, and reported that they believed he was the shooter at the Regal Cinemas.
He appeared in court Saturday and is scheduled for another court appearance at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
He was released Jan. 23 from the King County jail after posting a $25,000 bond.
