Two suspects sought after slashing movie theatre screens across Halton

Halton Regional Police are searching for two suspects that allegedly slashed and damaged multiple movie theatre screens in Oakville, Burlington and Waterloo.

Investigators were first made aware of an incident on February 23 when shortly after 5 p.m., two suspects entered Ciné Starz Theatre on Brant Street in Burlington. They significantly damaged three theatre screens with a sharp object, police claim.

The same suspects then attended Film.Ca Cinemas on Speers Road in Oakville and vandalized two movie theatre screens.

Then sometime after 7 p.m. on the same date, the two suspects attended Cinema Theatres’ Waterloo Theatre on King Street North and damaged a single screen.

No one was injured during these incidents.

Police cannot describe the suspects under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Halton Police believe the two suspects targeted the three theatres because a film titled “Bheemla Nayak” — a 2022 Indian Telugu-language action-drama flick starring Pawan Kalyan — was playing at the time.

This is corroborated by Waterloo Regional Police, who confirmed one of the suspects damaged the movie screen during a showing of “Bheemla Nayak” on February 23. The other individual filmed the incident, police allege.

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“Investigators are also investigating historical events with similar circumstances in 2020 and 2021 that occurred in Oakville and throughout the GTA,” Halton Police said in a news release.

Film.Ca Cinemas released video surveillance of the incident that shows a pair of suspects entering the cinema dressed in hoodies with their faces covered.

Both suspects are seen entering a screening of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and slashing the movie screen. They’re then shown running out of the auditorium and into an empty one where they cut a different screen. The pair then flee through the back door at 5:41 p.m.

Anyone with information is asked to come forward.