A man armed with pepper spray, an axe and a gun was killed this afternoon in a Nashville area movie theater after opening fire on the crowd. The suspect sprayed two females with pepper spray and injured one man with the hatchet, according to the Tennessean. The incident was reported at 1:13 p.m. during a screening of "Mad Max: Fury Road" at the Carmike Hickory 8 in Antioch, a suburb of Nashville, according to Deadline. The man and two women were treated at the scene.
Nashville Fire Department spokesman Brian Haas said the man had a "superficial wound from what could be the hatchet." He described the injury as "not much more than a bad bruise" to the shoulder or arm. No one was taken to the hospital. Officials at Vanderbilt University Medical Center confirmed no victims were transported to the hospital, according to local NBC affiliate WSMV.
Active shooter situation @ Hickory 8 Theater -- suspect dead
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) August 5, 2015
The suspect has not been identified yet, but was described by police as a 51-year-old local man wearing a surgical mask.
"The only person who was shot was the suspect as he emerged out the rear door," said Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron. "There was gunfire, and the gunman is deceased just inside the theater. So we believe the imminent threat is ended.
"However, the gunman had two backpack-type bags with him - one on him and another that was left. We're going to make sure that there's no danger with those backpacks, so officers are working now to clear those backpacks."
The news of the Nashville shooting came just two weeks after a gunman opened fire at a screening of Amy Schumer's "Trainwreck," that left two dead and nine injured. The incident also happened just two days after a Colorado jury unanimously agreed to consider the death penalty for James Holmes, the man who killed 12 and injured 70 in 2012 during the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."
