Regal Cinema Suspect Described as ‘Quiet’

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Neighbors describe the North Ridgeville man accused of taking several weapons into a Westlake movie theater as quiet — “someone who kept to himself.”

Law enforcement officials searched the home Scott A. Smith, at 6103 Emerald Street, on Monday night for hours after he allegedly with a gun, ammunition and four knives at a showing of The Dark Knight Rises Saturday night at in .

Officers found a small arsenal of weapons including several guns — including pistols, shotguns and rifles; “thousands" of bullets; and a gas mask.

Smith’s arrest stunned the quiet neighborhood, as law enforcement officials spent hours searching the home.

“He tended to stick to himself,” said Patty Habenicht, who’s lived across the street since Smith and his wife relocated from Michigan a few years back. 

The couple also had an infant daughter at the home. 

Smith is rumored to have been laid-off recently from his job as a lab technician.

“I’ve heard all sorts of crazy things,” Habenicht said. “One of them was that he was afraid for the people at the movie theater and wanted to bring the weapons just in case something went on. Who knows? There have been so many rumors in the neighborhood, I just don’t know what’s true.”

Habenicht said she had only a few interactions with the Smiths. She helped the Smiths shovel snow when the couple first moved to the neighborhood.

Scott Smith had recently given Habenicht advice on riding motorcycles, as his was parked in the driveway across the street. 

“They very rarely come out,” she said. “They never really interacted with anybody. Most of the neighbors here keep to themselves. Nobody’s really nosy.”

No one was home on Tuesday afternoon, however the lawn had recently been mowed and someone had recently taken the garbage to the curb.

Another neighbor, who lived several houses down from Smith, also said that the family was quiet and kept to themselves.

He noted that despite just living a few hundred feet from Smith, he’d never seen him.

“There are usually two or three vehicles there, but I don’t see people there,” he said, adding that he was surprised by the news reports.

“This is a nice street. But something like this can happen anywhere. You know that."

Also on Westlake Patch: