Cannes shooting sends stars scurrying for cover (VIDEO)
French actor Daniel Auteuil, centre, and Austrian actor Christoph Waltz, right, flee a stage on May 17, 2013 during the Cannes Film Festival in France. A man was held after shooting a starter’s pistol into the air next to an outdoor TV studio, police said.
Hours after $1.4 million worth of jewels went missing, a man sent stars running and caused temporary panic at the Cannes film festival on Friday by firing a starter’s pistol into the air.
Police responded to an outdoor stage broadcasting “Le Grand Journal,” a nightly news program with actor Christoph Waltz and Daniel Auteuil as guests, The Hollywood Reporter said.
Police arrested the man, who was found with the pistol, pocket knife and plastic grenade. He fired twice into the air.
A witness told The Hollywood Reporter that police warned spectators about the danger.
“I thought I heard them say, ‘Run, he has a gun,” the witness said, according to THR.
In video of the broadcast, viewers begin scurrying off stage as announcers speak to producers off-stage.
“He said to a woman next to him, ‘if I were you, I wouldn’t stick around here,’” show host Michel Denisot said, according to France 24.
“The police intervened. He had a hand grenade. There were no bullets in the gun and the grenade was a fake.”
Photographers on the scene captured images of police wrestling with the suspect, The Associated Press reported.
Early Friday morning, an employee with Chopard reported a theft of millions in jewelry from a hotel room safe.
More from GlobalPost: Cannes jewelry heist sees $1-million worth of bling vanish
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