One person injured by the hatchet.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: An active shooter was killed by police at the Carmike Hickory 8 movie theater in Antioch, Tenn. after several rounds of gunfire were exchanged, reported local media outlets.
The Metro Nashville Police Department reported shortly after 3 p.m. ET that the “suspect [is] dead.”
According to CNN, the man was also wielding a hatchet and pepper spray. Fatalities were limited to the suspect himself, but one moviegoer was cut on a shoulder by the hatchet before police killed the 51-year-old shooter as he tried to escape out the theatres back door.
“We believe the imminent threat has been ended,” said Metro police spokesman Don Aaron, according to CNBC, but added that police are investigating two backpacks the gunman had brought into the theater to make sure they are not hazardous in some way.
Aaron said the police response was “swift” as an officer entered the theater where “Mad Max” was showing, and encountered the gunman who began to fire his weapon. The officer, Aaron said, returned fire and backed out of the theater.
A SWAT team responded, engaged the gunman, and the gunman died “just inside the movie theater,” he added.
No one has been transported to a hospital, fire department spokesman Brian Haas said per CNN, but three people — including the man who suffered the cut from the hatchet — suffered irritation from pepper spray apparently used by the suspect, who was wearing a surgical mask.