'Dark Knight' Weapons Case: #4 Top Story of 2012

In July, during a showing of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises.

In August, the fear came home to Westlake. 

Jeremiah Bullins, an off-duty Westlake Police officer working security at Regal Cinema in Crocker Park on Aug. 4, was suspicious of a man he saw entering the theatre wearing what was described as looking like a fanny pack. 

And what happened next -- the Dark Knight weapons case -- was the fourth most popular story on Westlake Patch in 2012. 

After an employee asked the man to open the bag and saw nothing, Bullins followed the man, Scott A. Smith of North Ridgeville, into the theatre where a 10 p.m. showing of The Dark Knight Rises was scheduled. Smith was the only person in the theatre. Bullins asked him if he could search the bag. Smith agreed, and Bullins saw an interior compartment of the bag.

Bullins found a loaded Glock 9MM semiautomatic pistol with two additional fully loaded magazines, three knives, a flashlight, medicated bandages that help clot blood, and a capsule that is dropped in fresh water to make it safe to drink. A fourth knife was found on Smith.

Smith's home was searched, where more guns and ammunition were found. He is charged with a fourth-degree felony carrying concealed weapons (for the gun found on him), a misdemeanor carrying concealed weapon (for the four knives found on him) and a third-degree felony for having weapons under disability (for the gun on him as well as ones taken from his home). 

Smith, who was released on $250,000 bond, is scheduled to stand trial in January.