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Shooting at Tennessee movie theater leaves suspect dead – reports Shooting at Tennessee movie theater leaves suspect dead
(35 minutes later)
A suspect is dead after a shooting near a movie theater outside Nashville, police have said. Police say a man who entered a movie theater in Antioch, Tennessee, armed with a gun, hatchet and pepper spray is dead after he exchanged fire with police, following what appears to be an attempted attack on moviegoers during a showing of Mad Max.
“Active shooter situation @ Hickory 8 Theater – suspect dead,” the Metro Nashville police department said via Twitter just after 3pm ET on Wednesday. One person sustained a superficial hatchet injury and three people were pepper sprayed in the attack, according to a fire department spokesperson. It does not appear anyone other than the gunman was shot in the attack.
Active shooter situation @ Hickory 8 Theater -- suspect deadActive shooter situation @ Hickory 8 Theater -- suspect dead
Reports of a shooting emerged just before 1.30pm ET, local media said. “At this point there is a report that one person may have suffered a wound from the hatchet. That’s still being sorted out by the fire department now,” a police spokesman said.
Police officers on livestreams could be seen milling around outside the cinema, heavily armed, but not appearing to be engaged in an active incident. Local television station WSMV reported that there are witness reports of one girl found near the scene with blood on her hands and hair. The Guardian has not independently confirmed that report.
A witness told WSMV, a local NBC affiliate, that they heard gunshots from outside the theater and saw police fire back. The attempted shooting took place at the Carmike Hickory 8 theater in a southeastern suburb of Nashville, where a large police presence remained about an hour later. The attack comes just weeks after a gunman in Lafayette, Louisiana, killed two in a movie theater shooting, and as the gunman who killed 12 and injured 70 in a movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, is being sentenced.
Police spokesman Don Aaron told reporters that police received reports of an active shooter at about 1.15pm CT. An officer from the Metropolitan Nashville police was the first to respond, entered the theater and began clearing it from the projection room down.The officer encountered the gunman and the two exchanged fire according to Aaron. Swat officers then engaged the gunman, Aaron said (it’s unclear whether the officer left the theater before this took place).A short time later, officers outside the theater heard gunfire and found the alleged attacker dead inside.The attacker’s name and the type of firearm he may have been carrying have not been released, nor have the names of any alleged victims.A bomb squad was still investigating two backpacks the attacker allegedly brought with him to the movie theater, as of 2.30pm CT.