Batman Colorado shooting: Arrests at US screenings of The Dark Knight Rises amid panic over copycats

AT LEAST three people have been arrested at US showings of the new Batman film The Dark Knight Rises amid audience fears following the Colorado cinema massacre.

• Aurora shooting suspect John Holmes appeared in court yesterday

• Arrests made in Arizona, Maine and California

All were accused of making threats during or after watching the film in separate incidents.

Moviegoers in Sierra Visa, Arizona, panicked when a man who appeared drunk was confronted during a showing of the movie. The Cochise County Sheriff’s office said it caused “mass hysteria” and about 50 people fled the cinema.

Michael Borboa, 27, was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, and threatening and intimidating.

A Maine man was arrested when he told authorities that he was on his way to shoot a former employer a day after watching “The Dark Knight Rises,” state police said.

Timothy Courtois had been stopped for speeding, and a police search of his car found an AK-47 assault weapon, four handguns, ammunition and news clippings about the mass shooting that left 12 people dead early Friday.

In Southern California, a man at an afternoon showing of the film was arrested after witnesses said he made threats and alluded to the Colorado shooting when the show did not start on time.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were called to the cinema complex said 52-year-old Clark Tabor shouted: “I should go off like in Colorado.” They said he then asked: “Does anybody have a gun?”

A security guard saw Tabor with a backpack on his knees in the second row, but deputies who searched the bag, the theatre and its surrounding area did not find a weapon.

Despite some jitters over the horrific shooting, moviegoers around the US still flocked to theatres to see the film, which was the final instalment of the phenomenally successful Batman trilogy.

Warner Bros. reported that it brought in 160.9 million dollars (£104 million) over the weekend, making it the third highest opening weekend ever, after “The Avengers” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.”