Patti LaBellewas rushed offstage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Saturday night over an apparent bomb threat.
The singer, 78, was ushered away mid-performance during her gig at the Riverside Theater, when three men in all black had her drop a bouquet of flowers to quickly exit the venue, with her band following after. “Hold up,” LaBelle could be heard saying in aclip shared online, before being escorted backstage.
As event organizerPabst Theater Grouplater explained on social media, LaBelle’s cancellation was the result of a bomb threat. The organizer said it is now “working with the artist to reschedule the show.”
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The Milwaukee Police Department (MPD), as well as a rep for LaBelle, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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Journal Sentinelreporter Drake Bentley shared a message fromMPD on Twittershortly after the concert Saturday night, which explained that “all patrons” had been safely evacuated from the venue. “Police are clearing the facility at this time,” the message continued. “The investigation is fluid and ongoing.”
“There is no threat to the public at this time,” he added to the publication.
Adrienne Crossley, a journalist who attended the show with family,tweeted her first-hand accountof events after the venue got evacuated.
“Now that I’m safely at home… A bomb threat at a Patti LaBelle concert, really,” Crossley wrote. “I was having a lovely night with my parents, getting to cross seeing Ms. Patti off my bucket list, and then it all went left. This is just sad.”
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Additionally, concertgoer Catherine Brunson told theJournal Sentinelthat the event ended barely two songs into LaBelle’s set, just before 9:30 p.m local time, when she said the venue was at its capacity of 2,500 people.
“Somebody got on a microphone and said we have to evacuate the building because there was a bomb threat,” Brunson said. “We came out and police had the block taped off. … A whole lot of people were pretty upset. … It’s scary.”
source: people.com
