A security officer noticed an individual walking around the building coming close to an employee entrance, said Staples Senior Vice President Lee Zeidman in a news briefing. "He tried to enter the doors and we tried to secure him and stop him … he pulled out a knife at that point and told our officers in no uncertain terms to get away from him,” Zeidman said.
Security chased the man as he ran onto the court. Los Angeles Police Department officers, who arrived at 11 a.m., then tried to talk with the man. Ultimately, officers tackled him near the Cavaliers' bench and took him into custody. Zeidman described the weapon as being the size of a steak knife, but other individuals who witnessed the incident said that the knife was larger.
Players watched the spectacle unfold on a video monitor in a hallway outside their locker rooms. There were no reports of injuries and the game proceeded on schedule.
Officials said it was unclear what had prompted the behavior.
“From what I understand, he was talking a lot of gibberish, making a lot of veiled threats, and nobody could really understand him, Zeidman said. "We had our officers trying to negotiate with him, to get him to drop the knife. He would not do that. Once LAPD took over, we kind of backed off.
“There was a lot of vulgarity, a lot of statements that didn’t make any sense. We quite frankly don’t understand why he tried to do this," Zeidman said. "There were no specific demands, just told us to back away or else you’re going to get hurt: ‘Leave me alone. I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to get whatever I want.’ But he never made any statements to our people to the effect of what he actually wanted."
-- Lisa Dillman
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... stery.html
According to Lee Zeidman, senior vice president and general manager of the Staples Center and Nokia Theater L.A. Live, an African-American man was spotted by security walking around the building about 10:44 a.m. Los Angeles time. A minute later, he tried to enter using the employee entrance on 11th Street.
When security officers approached him, he pulled out a large knife, told them to get away from him and ran down the stairs to the court. Off-duty Los Angeles police officers in the building were called immediately, and the police and security followed the man down to the court.
The lower bowl of the building was immediately locked down. Although it wasn't open to fans at the time, there were players and staff from both teams, along with the media and some VIPs. All were cleared to safe areas.
After attempts at negotiation failed, the police shot him with a bean-bag gun, subdued him, arrested him and escorted him out of the building.
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf ... hot_a.html
