Stabbing at Comic Con 2010 - Man stabbed in face with pen at Resident Evil panel

Comic Con 2010 had a criminal act that closed a big show on Saturday, July 24th. The Marvel Comics presentation of Thor and Captain America motion picture cast and production teams and set for 6 PM PDT was cancelled because a man was stabbed in the face with a pen and during the Resident Evil movie panel just before it.

Just as this blogger was waiting to get into Hall H for the Marvel Comics presentation, and texting with friend and social media expert Krystyl Baldwin, there was a rumor going around, but not confirmed that Hall H was closed. Krystyl told me that it was closed, but to me "closed" meant it was already shut and people were in it, and then it would reopen.

But then, as she and I were texting, it became clear that Hall H was closed, but no one knew why, or at least we didn't.

Photo by Krystal Baldwin 

Then, as we walked out of the line, a group of police officers walked by us with a man in a "Harry Potter" shirt in handcuffs, but Krystyl and I did not know why.  The people standing in the line knew something because they were booing him.  Since we were further into the line, the news of what happened had not trickled to us at that time.  Krystyl said the Hall H was being closed for "health reasons."

A woman, walking in the other direction, explained to us what happened: that a man was stabbed during the Resident Evil panel, and by the person in the photo here that was handcuffed.

According to the blog Techland.com, the issue was described as "a seating squabble."

UPDATE from YouTube commenter:

SoCalCCGs
55 minutes ago
I was in Hall H when it happened. They didn't let anyone in and there was only an hour delay. Police were they and they questioned witnesses, thats all. Problem was all 6,500 people were standing on their chairs to find out what happened, lol. It was kinda a side show.

All we know is as of this writing, the events set for Comic Con, at least for Hall H, have been cancelled for Saturday.

Comic Con is not known for crime problems. Indeed, the Comic Con environment is described as "chill." For this to happen is an indication as much of Comic Con's rapid growth.   While 125,000 badges were issued, there have been estimates of as many as 200,000 people in San Diego, many looking for badges to get into the San Diego Convention Center.

Comic Con is coming back to San Diego for 2011, but the future of the event in San Diego rests with what the city does to fit an event that's growing faster than it can keep up with.

Yes, fighting over a seat is childish, but it's also a byproduct of a very crowded event, the size growth potential of which is not known.

Stay tuned.