Police: Charlotte comedy club empties before man shoots gun

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina

A man fired a gun inside a comedy club in North Carolina on Saturday night shortly after it was evacuated and before actor and comedian Craig Robinson performed, police said.

The shot was fired around 9 p.m. at The Comedy Zone in Charlotte, media reported. No one was hurt.

Club workers told WSOC-TV that the man, later identified by police as Omar McCombs, waved a gun and told everyone to leave before the venue emptied. About fifty customers were inside.

“The suspect then discharged his weapon,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said in a statement on Twitter. “There were no injuries and the suspect has been taken into custody.”

McCombs, 36, was sent to Mecklenburg County Jail early Sunday morning, according to an inmate database.

Robinson has acted in films such as “Hot Tub Time Machine” as well as the American version of the television show “The Office”. He said he was safe in a video posted Saturday night to his Instagram account.

Robinson said he and others from the club were taken to a nearby concert where pop group Big Time Rush was performing.

“I was in the green room and they were like, ‘Everyone get out,'” he said. “It was wild. It was a moment for sure.”

The charges against McCombs include assault by pointing a firearm, discharging a firearm in the city, communicating threats and possession of a firearm by a felon.

It is unclear whether he has hired a lawyer who can speak on his behalf. Investigators have not disclosed a possible motive.

In an Instagram post on Sunday, Robinson thanked club security and staff for quickly getting everyone to safety, as well as Charlotte-Mecklenburg police for their “swift action” in apprehending the alleged shooter.

“I hope he gets the help he needs,” Robinson wrote. “Thank God no one was hurt.”