HOWELL - The fireworks that Xscape Theatres moviegoers mistook for gunfire Wednesday evening were the work of a Lakewood man helping a friend with a wedding proposal, police said.

Nathan Sanders, 23, "lit off the fireworks while a friend was proposing marriage," police posted on Facebook. "There was no intent to cause panic to theatre patrons. Obviously this was a very poor decision rather than an overt act."

Moviegoers at the Route 9 cinema thought they had heard gunshots, rather than fireworks, and called 911, police said Wednesday night.

Township police said their officers and officers from Lakewood and Jackson cleared the cinema, found no victims and determined that no shots had been fired.

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"The manager confronted a male subject who lit fireworks outside the theater," according to an earlier post on the department's Facebook page. "Officers have found the remnants of discharged fireworks."

Those remnants, police later clarified, were at the ClimbZone indoor climbing facility, also on Route 9.

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Sanders was charged with a fireworks infraction and disorderly conduct, both disorderly persons offenses, court records show. Police said was released from custody.

A similar panic ensued in June 2018, when moviegoers mistook for a gunshot the sound of a backpack holding a heavy battery hitting the ground.

Alex N. Gecan: 732-643-4043; agecan@gannettnj.com; @GeeksterTweets