Hiram’s Carmike Theater Target of Bomb Threats

Authorities from the city of Hiram, Paulding and Cobb counties responded Friday to bomb threats aimed at Hiram’s Movies 278, but public safety officials found nothing threatening in the search of the facility.

Earlier today, officers fanned out to Carmike locations in Atlanta, Canton, Cartersville, Conyers, Cumming, Newnan and Snellville after the movie theater's corporate office received bomb threats from callers who identified themselves as employees of a Carmike vendor, according to WSB-TV and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Theaters in other states also were on alert.

“[Our movie theater] received a threat also,” Detective Donald Roberts of Hiram Police Department told Dallas-Hiram Patch. “The management at the store contacted us and requested that we come out and assist them with it. We went out and did an initial sweep of the theater to make sure there was nothing obvious that was in place.”

After Hiram officers performed their initial sweep, they then took an employee with them to again look to see if anything was out of place in or around the theater.

Once Hiram officers completed their search, Cobb County Police performed a search using their bomb squad and an explosive-sniffing dog. Once Cobb authorities cleared the scene, the movie theater was turned over to its management to determine how to proceed with their operations.

“The threat was pretty specific about when things were supposed to happen, so we went in and made sure that wasn’t the case, that it wasn’t going to happen at that time,” Roberts said. “There was no one [customers] at the theater at the time. There weren’t even many employees at the store yet, so we were able to get in there and handle everything really before many movies started.

“We left, I think it was around 12:30 or 12:45, and the first movie that had started showing was at 12. It may have pushed them back an hour or two.”

Roberts said the theater was believed to have opened up to customers as of early afternoon.

Also assisting the police departments was the Paulding County Fire Department, which cordoned off the area around the theater and remained on hand in case any emergency situations arose.

Do you feel safe at Movies 278 or other Carmike theaters in the wake of the bomb threats and last month's movie theater shooting in Colorado? Tell us in the comments.

Roberts said he had not heard word from theater officials about changing tonight or this weekend. He said the theater would have to contact Hiram Police for extra security .

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