SAN DIEGO — A stabbing Saturday night in a packed auditorium at the Comic-Con International pop culture convention brought the presentation of some of the most highly anticipated films to a halt.
The incident in Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center occurred minutes before Universal Pictures was to present panels on two upcoming films — its sci-fi adventure Paul and Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens.
Witnesses said that a scuffle broke out between two men in their mid-20s over a seat near the center of the auditorium and one of the men was stabbed in the eye.
Security personnel rushed to the auditorium as attendees stood on their seats to watch. Organizers pleaded with the capacity crowd to take their seats as guards and medics cleared the scene.
Convention officials started a roll of trailers to a chorus of boos from the spectators, some of whom had waited overnight in line to see the panels.
The day was to be one of the biggest for the convention, hosting films for major comics publishers Marvel (Thor, Captain America) and DC Comics (Green Lantern).
Organizers expected the panels to be delayed at least an hour after the early evening incident, but the presentation resumed at about 5:30 PT.
"I've been coming to Comic-Con for nine years and never saw anything like it," says Albert Esparza, 33, of Los Angeles.
Esparza says he was sitting a couple of rows in front of the fracas when he felt "everybody kind of move forward. Then there was a lot of yelling."
Esparza says he turned to see a man's face in profile, covered in blood. Another attendee grabbed the assailant and held him until security arrived, Esparza said.
"I don't know what would have happened if someone didn't step in," he says. "You don't think of people going off here because we're at Comic-Con for the same reason. But tempers were really fired up."
Identities of the victim and assailant have not been released.
San Diego Police Sgt. Gary Mondesir said, "Two males got into a dispute and one male stabbed the other male with a pen around the eye socket. Parademics arrived almost immediately and took the victim to the University of California/San Diego hospital. The suspect was taken away.
"We had officers inside the convention center and they were there relatively quickly, and citizens had actually detained the suspect," said Mondesir.
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