Hatchet-wielding gunman dead after shooting at Tennessee movie theater during Mad Max screening
ANTIOCH, Tenn. (WABC) --
A suspect wielding a hatchet and a gun inside a Nashville-area movie
theater showing the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road." died after exchanging
gunshots with a SWAT team that stormed the theater, police said
Wednesday.The suspect was a 51-year-old local man, according to police but his name was not released. He was the only person shot, police said.
Authorities say the man was wielding a gun and hatchet while wearing a backpack on his chest and a surgical mask when the incident occurred shortly after 1:00 p.m. local time at the Carmine Hickory movie theater in Antioch. An estimated 20 people were inside the theater at the time.
Metro Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron says the suspect attacked three people, dousing them with pepper spray; one of them, a man, had a cut to his shoulder after he was apparently hit by a hatchet. No one was transported to a hospital.
Aaron said an officer then came into the theater and was fired upon by the suspect. The officer shot back, then backed off. The suspect unleashed large amounts of pepper spray inside the theater before a SWAT team came in, and there was another exchange of gunfire. The suspect was then found dead.
Video from the scene showed a heavy presence at the theater, with local, state and federal officers setting up a perimeter in the parking lot. A wide area was roped off with yellow police tape, and at least one ambulance was outside the theater. Many officers were heavily armed.
Instagram user @onolyrics posted this video of the scene:
The theater in Antioch is near Global Mall, a shopping center in a middle-class neighborhood.
The latest shooting comes about two weeks after a gunman opened fire inside a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, during a screening of the film "Trainwreck." Police said John Russell Houser killed two people and wounded nine others before fatally shooting himself.
As we had predicted, there will be more movie theater assaults of this type. There is no luck of crazies around us.