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New York City Police officials said witnesses had heard a man
say he was at the opera to spread the ashes of his mentor.
"An individual from out of town ... indicated that he was here
to sprinkle ashes of a friend, his mentor in opera, during the
performance," John Miller, Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence
and Counterterrorism told reporters at Lincoln Center.
The Met said on its Facebook page that it also canceled the
Saturday evening performance of "L'Italiana in Algeri," while
police investigate the incident which happened in the second
intermission.
There were no reports of any injuries or any bad reactions to
the substance, though the theater was evacuated and the New York
Police Department dispatched a special unit to investigate,
Officer Tiffany Phillips said.
The suspect, a man who was not identified, had fled the scene
and no arrests have been made, Phillips said.
The Metropolitan Opera has seen other bizarre episodes in the
past, including one in 1988 when a patron died during a plunge
from the top balcony during the intermission of a performance of
"Macbeth."
(Reporting by Frank McGurty and Chris Michaud in New York,
additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by
Leslie Adler, G Crosse and Nick Macfie)
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