Grenades Brought To Mall Movie Theater

PHILADELPHIA - A 39-year-old Philadelphia man is jailed in connection with a grenade scare at a local movie theater.

Police say the man had what appeared to be two hand grenades strapped to his belt inside a crowded theater at the Franklin Mills Mall, reported Fox 29's Dave Schratwieser.

Police arrested Kevin Michael, of the 3000 block of Ditman Street, Tuesday afternoon.

Michael traveled on a bus to Franklin Mills with the World War II-era MK2 hand grenades, say authorities.

Police say there was pandemonium inside Theatre No. 5 at the mall when patrons saw Michael dressed all in black with the two devices strapped to his belt.

"They were running in all directions," says Capt. Jack McGinnis of Philadelphia Police. "Could you imagine being in a movie theater and a guy walks in with grenades? It's a scary situation."

Police were notified immediately as patrons fled the theater. When officers encountered the 6'4", 230-pound Michael,  they saw the grenades and demanded he show his hands. As they tried to arrest him, he allegedly said, "What's the problem? I can take them anywhere I want. They're my grenades."

Police say Michael struggled with officers. He was rushed from the theater to the outdoor parking lot where a staging area was set up and the bomb squad, as well as counterterrorism experts, were called in.

They found the grenades to be inert.

"In other words, they were practice rounds," says McGinnis. "They couldn't have gone off anyway, but how does anybody in that theater know that?"

The devices, referred to in the military as "pineapples," were practice grenades Michael purchased at a local army surplus store.

Michael was charged with recklessly endangering other people, terroristic threats and possession of an instrument of crime.

Police sources tell Fox 29 News he has 20 prior arrests.