Movie Patrons Treated to Real Drama After Robbery : Crime: Police make an arrest after evacuating most of the audience in a theater where they say suspect fled.

Police evacuated a movie theater after an armed man fleeing a clothing store robbery tried to hide among moviegoers, authorities said Monday.

About 45 minutes into the movie “Tall Tale” at the United Artists complex in Brea Marketplace on Sunday evening, police entered the theater and quietly removed about three-fourths of the 25 audience members, Police Lt. Doug Dickson said.

Police then moved in on the suspect, identified as Miguel Alvarez, 32, of Corona, Dickson said. In a waist pack he was wearing, Alvarez had a BB gun resembling a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol, Dickson said.

The Clothestime store in the marketplace had been robbed about 6 p.m. of $300, a bottle of perfume, a jacket and a vest, police said. The robber picked up the items, then waited for the store’s closing time. He displayed a gun and told the cashier that he was taking the items. He also demanded cash from the register.

Employees told officers who arrived minutes later that the robber had run toward the theaters located in the same building, Dickson said.

When theater employees said that a man matching the suspect’s description had paid to see the movie, officers entered the theater and identified Alvarez, Dickson said.

“We were in somebody’s business. We didn’t want to be too disruptive,” said Dickson, who was in charge of the officers on the scene. “We were trying to be as safety conscious as possible.”

They quietly removed most of the audience without Alvarez’s awareness, Dickson said.

Alvarez was being held at the Orange County Jail on suspicion of armed robbery. Bail was set at $65,000, of which $15,000 stems from an arrest warrant pending against Alvarez involving a previous theft, Dickson said. Alvarez was expected to be arraigned today, Dickson said.