Vigil planned for slain movie theater manager

Raleigh, N.C. — Friends and family plan a vigil Thursday night to remember a movie theater manager who was shot and killed during an attempted robbery last week.

The vigil to remember Mark Buhaug begins at 9 p.m. at the Marquee Cinema in the Wakefield Commons shopping center off Capital Boulevard. It is open to the public.

Buhaug, a 25-year veteran of the movie business, had managed Marquee Cinemas since August 2005.

A masked gunman shot Buhaug, 48, during a robbery attempt at the theater last Friday. Authorities have arrested three men in connection with the shooting.

New Jersey authorities arrested the third, Anthony Joseph Bimbo, 40, of Wake Forest, on Monday.

Two New Jersey state troopers recognized a stolen 2007 Toyota Sienna minivan from an alert that was issued to law enforcement agencies. The troopers arrested Bimbo at a New Jersey Turnpike rest stop north of Trenton, authorities said.

Police also charged two other men with murder in the case – Ryan Becker, 19, and Jason Zilinski, 18. Theater employees said Zilinski worked at the theater and lived with Bimbo, whom neighbors said was his stepfather.

Court documents show that Bimbo was going through a divorce, had lost his house to his wife and had just lost his job. Zilinski and Becker graduated from Wake Forest-Rolesville High School last spring.

“They were good people. I could not see them ever doing that,” said friend Courtney Hunken. “I was just with them last weekend, hanging out with them, and it’s just so weird to hear that. The next weekend they’re in jail for a murder (and it) just doesn’t seem like something they would do.”

Flowers lined the front windows of the Marquee Cinemas’ ticket booth after the shooting.

Billy Stiles, a former assistant manager at the theater, was a friend of Buhaug's.

“I worked with him for a year and a half, and ... (he was) one of the best guys you could ever work with,” Stiles said.

Besides the movie business, Buhaug’s passion was 3-D animation. He was working on a big project, according to friends.