His father later called 911 and said his distraught son told him the gun discharged after he dropped it in the theater, authorities said.

But police painted a different picture.

"We have witnesses that say he came into the theater and appeared intoxicated. He went in and took a seat in theater No. 9 and was fumbling with a pistol when it went off and struck someone sitting in front of him," David Leibman with the Renton Police Department told the affiliate.