Oakdale Shooting as Gunman Opens Fire Inside Minnesota Movie Theater

A movie theater in Oakdale, Minnesota, was evacuated on Tuesday night when a gunman opened fire inside.

Oakdale police officers were called to Marcus Oakdale Cinema along 5677 Hadley Avenue North just after 10 p.m., Capt. Steve Goodwin said in a statement to Newsweek.

A 23-year-old man with suspected gunshot wounds was found inside theater 17 and transported to Regions Hospital for treatment, Goodwin said. His condition was not immediately known.

"The suspect was reported to have fled on foot and has not been apprehended," Goodwin said.

Video posted on Twitter showed a massive law enforcement presence outside the cinema. "Yo I went to the theater today and they evacuated us due to a shooting," Fernando Salguero wrote alongside the clip.

A witness told KTSP that he had been watching a screening of Top Gun: Maverick when officers came into the theater and ordered everyone to clear out.

Mauricio Nava described a chaotic scene to KARE 11, saying he and his friends did not know what was happening after officers told people to get out of the theater.

"We didn't know if it was a shooting or a bomb threat or just a joke," Nava said. "But with all these police officers, we thought something must be going on."

The incident is being investigated by the Oakdale Police Department with assistance from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and surrounding agencies, Goodwin said.

It comes as gun violence continues to claim lives across the nation. More than 21,000 gun deaths have taken place in the first half of the year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

At the weekend, President Joe Biden signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades into law—after lawmakers reached a compromise in the wake of a deadly massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last month, and following a spike in gun crime across the country.

The legislation will toughen background checks for the youngest gun buyers and keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders. It will also help states administer "red flag" laws to allow weapons to be kept from people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.

Biden called it a "historic achievement" that will save lives.

"While this bill doesn't do everything I want, it does include actions I've long called for that are going to save lives," he said on Saturday.

Update 6/29.22, 6 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.