Movie goer 'not going to live in fear'

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Ryan Sage refuses to be frightened away from the theater screen.

"It's horrible. I absolutely feel for the families of the people involved. It's a terrible situation," Sage said of the shooting at a Colorado movie theater that left 12 dead and 59 injured. "But it's not anything that's going to stop me or my friends from going to the movies."

He talked with 24 Hour News 8 moments after he bought three tickets to Celebration Cinema's IMAX showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

The catastrophe near Denver is something with which every movie-goer can identify: Sitting in a dark theater,  your mind locked in the fantasy created by the film when the unimaginable occurs in reality.

The people who run local theaters are taking note.

At Celebration Cinema, they added extra employees for the Dark Knight premier.
        
"They always do because of large crowds," said Celebration Cinema Vice President of Marketing Steve VanWagoner. "But because of the tragedy you increase your awareness anyway."

He said it was "an increased awareness, the things they're looking for in crowds of people. The things they are looking for when they're talking to guests. And just the flow of traffic."

Local police departments discussed the incident, and, according to Kent County Undersheriff Jon Hess, copycats are a concern.

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On the Silver Screen - trailers

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Police agencies and emergency management crews train for the unthinkable in places like theaters, such as how to get in and secure the scene and how to deal with the mass casualties that could come with an incident like the one in Aurora, Colorado.
 
Van Wagoner said the theater has a number of security measures in place, but they keep them under wraps so no one knows how to get around  those measures.

"Talking about security measures is not secure."

But no system can provide absolute protection.

Ryan Sage knew that when he bought his ticket.

"We're not going to live in fear. We're not going to let one isolated incident change our course or our path."