Man, 63, attacked in Florida movie theater after asking couple to move from his VIP seat says 'they just went to town on me' - as he reveals his injuries and cops appeal for help to find suspects
By Alex Hammer For Dailymail.Com 09:06 EDT 23 Jul 2023 , updated 12:20 EDT 23 Jul 2023- The incident happened July 10 at the AMC Pompano Theater in Pompano Beach
- It left the 63-year-old disabled vet hospitalized with a broken nose, and stitches
- The suspect is still at large, and is now being pursued by the Broward County PD
The incident happened July 10 at the AMC Pompano Theater in Pompano Beach, and left the 63-year-old victim bloodied, hospitalized, and in stitches - after he asked the much younger-suspect to move from a seat for which he paid in advance.
Footage filmed from another moviegoer also showed the altercation in full - and how the victim was then pounced on by the suspect and punched repeatedly, while others, including his wife, helplessly looked on.
Now being used as part of a police investigation, it also shows how the victim at first approached his attacker in a civil manner to ask why he and his female companion were in the prebooked VIP seats, but was instead met with a violent assault.
Appearing in a video interview over the weekend, the victim - who asked not to be named - showed off some of the damage he sustained during the scare, and revealed himself to be a disabled veteran. His assailant, meanwhile, remains at large.
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A man who was beat down by a still-at-large suspect at a Florida movie theater last week has spoken out - revealing he sustained a broken nose during the filmed assault
'It happened so fast, he basically sucker-punched me,' the victim told NBC Miami Friday, some two weeks after he and his wife purchased the tickets for the July 10 airing of 'Insidious: The Red Door'
'I didn't think anybody would be stupid enough to actually start a fight like that in the movies,' he told NBC Miami Friday, revealing he was hospitalized after the incident and received an unspecified number of stitches
Thug viciously beats man asking to sit in his pre-booked cinema seats
'It happened so fast, he basically sucker-punched me,' the victim told NBC MiamiFriday, some two weeks after he and his wife purchased the tickets for the July 10 airing of 'Insidious: The Red Door' - which included advanced seat selection.
'I couldn't even get a defensive shot in,' he remembered.
The man proceeded to recount the attack as he remembered it, which he said started when he and his spouse arrived at the Pompano Beach theater only to find the other couple sitting in their seats.
Speaking on the condition his face would be blurred, the victim described how he 'politely' asked the two to move moments before the confrontation became physical - and before another filmgoer whipped out a phone to record the attack.
He went on to claim that after not being received well by the man, he gave up on the seats - and started to look elsewhere. However, he said the conflict resumed when he continued to be mean-mugged by the aggressor, who he recalled, 'just kept staring.'
'This guy just kept staring at me instead of getting up,' he told the station.
'I said to the people at this point, who didn't apologize or say thank you, I said 'you guys can just keep the seats.'
Then, 'as I'm walking away,' he continued, 'he said "go run to your wife little boy."'
'So I turned around and I said, "You know I'm not the one who's being a little boy - you took my seats and you didn't apologize, or you didn't say thank you, and I let you keep them."'
At that point, the victim said, the man became hostile, and another audience member began recording the violent assault that ensued.
The victim recalled how he felt like a 'boxer [backed] against the ropes' during the surprise attack that ensued - during which he was shoved against a railing than hung several feet over an exit aisle.
'He jumped up, he wanted to fight me, he backed me up,' he recalled Friday, 10 days after photos snapped after the attack showed him to be a bloodied mess.
'I fell over the stairs and as soon as I fell down the stairs, it was like a boxer being against the ropes, this guy just went to town on me.'
Citing the footage, the victim added that several witnesses and his wife tried to stop the man during the assault, but were unable.
He also recalled how the man and his female companion - who are both seen in surveillance footage taken from the theater but have yet to be named by police - fled the theater immediately after, and how he was completely taken aback by the attack.
'I didn't think anybody would be stupid enough to actually start a fight like that in the movies,' he admitted - adding that he was hospitalized after the incident to treat a broken nose and receive an unspecified number of stitches.
"He jumped up, he wanted to fight me, he backed me up,' he recalled, 10 days after photos snapped after the attack showed him to be a bloodied mess
Grainy footage showed falling down stairs in the aisle of the theater during a particularly heated part of the exchange - during which he was punched several times after asking a man and a woman seated in his seats during the July 10 showing to move
The man filmed beating the cinemagoer is seen strutting down the theater corridor, with his female accomplice flicking her hair as she walks behind him
Cameras also caught an image of the attacker's female companion, who has also yet to be identified
Cops in Broward County have since substantiated his account in an official release - and have launched a hunt for the perpetrator using the aforementioned security stills snapped of him making his way out of the theater.
According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, the assault began with the unknown man 'aggressively getting in the victim's face' inside the Pompano Beach movie theater, and goes on to cite the footage filmed by a Good Samaritan that begins soon after.
'The subject got so close to the victim that it forced him to take a step back ending up on the stairs in the aisle of the theater,' it said of how the attacker moved toward the victim menacingly, before physically shoving him against the railing.
'In the heated moment,' it continues, 'the victim loses his balance and falls down the steps.'
Cops added that the subject is then 'seen standing above the 63-year-old victim' before 'repeatedly punching him in the face until witnesses rushed to the victim’s aid' and pulled him off.
The subject and the adult female went on to leave the theater immediately after.
The victim, cops said, 'suffered several injuries to his head and face.
'He was transported to a local hospital to receive treatment.'
As of Sunday, cops are still searching for the suspect and any leads as to his or his acquaintance's identity. Their probe is still ongoing. DailyMail.com has reached out for comment.
