SF movie theater evacuated of fake gun scare

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - It ended up being a replica gun, but San Francisco Police Department says the AMC Metreon 16 was evacuated due to a possible gunman Tuesday night. 

SFPD says at 7:55 p.m. they received a 911 call about a person inside the theater who was possibly armed with a handgun. Officers from multiple districts responded to the area, according to Officer Grace Gatpandan. 

The theater was evacuated as a precaution. One person was located and detained. A replica handgun was located at the scene.

Police say they are still investigating, but no one appears to have been injured. 

KTVU's Amber Lee, who arrived to the scene, reports an alteration occurred inside theater 10 on the center's third floor when the movie 'Allied' starring Brad Pitt began. One witness said the suspect was apparently talking gibberish when another audience member told to be quiet.  The audience member went to get security, but when he returned to the theater, the suspect was said to have pulled out what ended up being the replica handgun. 

The witness said the suspect wasn't really pointing the gun at anyone, but was showing it off to let everyone know he had it. 

Another witness, Alvin Ding, said there was a commotion and somebody said "Someone's got a gun!" and they all began to run. 

Police say even though the gun is a replica, the suspect could be charged with felonies depending on the circumstances. 

The suspect appeared to be an Asian man in his 60s. He was taken into custody around 9 p.m. 

A Nixle alert was issued at 8:13 p.m. saying to avoid the area of Mission Street between 3rd and 4th Streets due to police activity.  At 8:40 p.m. a follow up alert was sent to say the situation was resolved. 

Police advised the are should be avoided until further notice. 

Customers at the movie theater were lined up where they were able to get refunds and movie passes after the evacuation. Some said they weren't ready to come back quite yet, given the scare.