A suspect wielding a hatchet and a gun inside a Nashville-area movie theater died after exchanging gunshots with a SWAT team that stormed the theater, police said Wednesday.
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A local official said that the man had a gun and a hatchet as well as two backpacks.
Anderson says investigators also have not yet found the gun that the attacker used to shoot at police. Earlier they said he was a 51-year-old local man, but now they say he was 29. Another bag was left behind and both were being searched by law enforcement. There were eight people in the theater, including the assailant, Aaron said. “The only person who was shot was the suspect as he emerged out of the rear door of the single movie theater”, he said.
A SWAT team then responded to the scene, firing on the gunman, who was killed within the theater.
A spokesman for the Nashville Fire Department has confirmed three people – a man and two women – were treated for pepper spray exposure, and the 58-year-old man was also treated for a “superficial wound”. No one was taken to a hospital.
Aaron says an officer encountered the suspect, who attacked three people during a showing of “Mad Max”. The officer shot back, then backed off. After that, a SWAT team came in, and there was another exchange of gunfire. Anderson said the man had an ID on him but police want to confirm his identity through fingerprints and other means.
The suspect had two backpacks, which are being checked by authorities.
Sanchez said she later heard what sounded like “rapid fire” and saw the large police presence.
The Tennessee and Louisiana shootings come three years after 12 people were slain and dozens wounded by a gunman at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight screening of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises”.
The theater in Antioch is near Global Mall, a shopping center in a middle-class neighborhood. “We have not been contacted yet”, he said.
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This story has been corrected to show that the name of the police department is Metro Nashville, not Nashville, and that the name of the Uber driver is Erick, not Eric.
