The incident took place around 11:00 p.m. Friday at the AMC 10 Theatres in the Marple Crossroads Shopping Center located at 400 South State Road.
Police say a man in his 20s walked into the theater and stole $600 from the registers. He was in and out in seconds.
A security guard spotted the man and chased him to the parking lot.
Investigators say the thief jumped into a white 4 door sedan, possibly a Volkswagen, with a getaway driver who flashed a handgun. According to police, that's when the security guard fired his weapon four times.
"He claims the gun was pointed right at him so he took defensive actions at that point after the robbery takes place. I don't have a problem with his actions, where the car was parked was a secluded part of the parking lot, so there was no one around there, so thankfully no one got injured here," said Detective Barry Williams, Marple Township Police.
The guard struck the driver side door but the car took off at a high rate of speed on Route 1.
Action News has learned it's the third time this movie theater has been robbed in three years and police are working a tip that the suspect is a former employee.
"Deliberately knew what he wanted so he had a set goal in mind. He knew where to go, what to do and he did it and left quickly," said Det. Williams.
Moviegoers say whoever he is, someone needs to turn him in.
"A person, whoever does that, should be ashamed of himself. One it's wrong and you shouldn't be doing it to begin with and this area, it's not that type of community," said Steve Gusky.
"Never felt like anything like this would be possible given the culture and environment here," said Mike Sanislo.
The suspect seen in surveillance photos is described as a white male in his 20s and 6'1 tall. He was wearing a black zipped up hoodie with a red shirt, sunglasses, and gloves.
He was driving a four door white sedan which, police say, should have a bullet hole on the driver side door.
Anyone with information should call Marple Township police at 610-356-1504.
