A 29-year-old Nashville man armed with an Airsoft gun injured three people with pepper spray and a hatchet inside the Carmike Hickory 8 movie theater in Antioch on Wednesday. He was shot and killed by Nashville police outside a rear door of the theater. Scroll below for more detailed information as it rolls in.
Update 8:00 a.m.
The newest and most detailed Nashville police statement can be read in full: Nashville police statement.
Police said attacker Vincente David Montano had no arrest history in Nashville but an assault charge 11 years ago in Murfreesboro and a history of three hospital commitments for mental health episodes.
He entered the Carmike Hickory 8 after first visiting a nearby Family Dollar, where he purchased a mango drink.
After Montano attacked, it was South Precinct Officer Jonathan Frith, a six-year veteran, who first encountered him in the theater.
The officer reported that Montano fired his weapon — which police later learned to be an Airsoft pellet gun that resembles a pistol — and the officer fired a single shot before exiting.
A standoff followed before the SWAT team entered the theater, which Montano had filed with a cloud of chemical spray, where a shootout took place. Four SWAT officers fired before Montano ran out the rear door, ax in hand, and was shot by five other officers.
The officers who fired on Montano inside the theater are identified as:
- Special Response Team/SWAT Sgt. Jason Duncan, an 18-year police department veteran;
- East Precinct/SWAT Lt. Jeff Sanders, a 20-year police department veteran;
- Special Response Team/SWAT Officer Jonathan Frost, a 9-year police department veteran;
- SWAT Officer Brian Gregory, a 13-year police department veteran.
Officers fired on Montano as he emerged out the door are identified as:
- South Precinct Officer Steven Carrick, a 2-year police department veteran;
- North Precinct Officer Justin Fox, a 16-year police department veteran;
- South Precinct undercover detective Lee Davis, a 4-year police department veteran;
- South Precinct undercover detective Kevin Choklad, a 3-year police department veteran;
- North Precinct Officer Michael Parman, an 8-year police department veteran.
The officers who fired their weapons are on routine administrative assignment pending completion of the preliminary investigation.
Update 8:30 p.m.
Police identified Vincente David Montano, 29, of 1718 Rosa Parks Blvd. as the attacker. He was carrying a Tennessee ID card, but detectives also used finger prints to confirm his identity. They matched prints from an arrest in Rutherford County from 2004.
Police say the 29-year-old had a history of mental illness, being committed twice in 2004 and twice again in 2007.
“In talking with Rutherford County authorities, it appears this individual has had significant psychiatric or psychological issues,” spokesman Don Aaron said.
Montano was reported missing on Monday in Texas, presumably by his mother.
The other key detail to come to light in the final press conference of the day is that Montano did not have a real gun.
“He was armed with a hatchet and armed with a weapon that strongly resembles a semi-automatic pistol, but as we know now after an examination is an Airsoft gun,” spokesman Don Aaron said.
Aaron explained how the gun was pointed at officers and that it even made a pop that could be confused with a low-power firearm.
The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on routine administrative leave.
Update 6:13 p.m.
Metro police chief Steve Anderson said the gunman was 29 years old, not 51, as a police spokesman previously reported. The suspect did have an ID on him, but police are confirming fingerprints before releasing a name. Law enforcement fired at the suspect, but Anderson wasn’t sure if the gunman ever fired shots, though he did use red-dyed pepper spray and a hatchet-like weapon.
Update 4:30 p.m.
Mayor Karl Dean sent this statement to the media:
“I applaud the Metro Police Department for its great work to apprehend the suspect, keep our citizens and visitors safe, and prevent a tragedy in Antioch today. We have one of the best police forces in the nation, and it showed this afternoon in the way our officers lived up to their very thorough training. I recognize that this situation must have been traumatizing for everyone in the theater and many who were nearby, and I’m sorry that some were injured and needed treatment. I’m relieved that no one else was killed, and again, I thank the police for that.”
Update 4:22 p.m.
span style=”line-height: 1.5;”>Steven, who was injured inside the theater, spoke briefly to reporters. “I have no idea why this gentleman decided to attack us,” he says, adding that he’s “eternally grateful” for the police intervention.
Update 3:55 p.m.
A bomb squad has detonated the backpack of the suspect.
Update 3:41 p.m.
Chris Nelson says he was by the mall nearby and started recording the shooting on his phone.
“A couple more [gunshots] came across, then a couple more, than a full-fledged shootout.”
Sean Oliver was with Nelson during the shooting.
“You see dirt flying up everywhere, just kept hearing more and more shots.” The barrage lasted about a minute, he recalls.
Metro police spokesman Don Aaron says the suspect was shot 41 minutes after the police were notified, from 1:13 to 1:54 p.m.
Update 3:13 p.m.
Metro police spokesman Don Aaron says the gunman accosted a 58-year-old man and two women inside the Carmike Hickory 8 theater. The gunman was wearing a surgical mask and carrying two backpacks. He cut the man with a hatchet or ax and doused the two women with pepper spray.
Aaron estimated that 20 people were inside the theater. They were cleared out without injury. A police officer arrived at the scene and began a search of the theater in the projection room. He encountered the gunman somewhere in the building. The gunman shot at the officer, who retreated from the theater.
SWAT teams arrived at the theater. They shot the gunman as he emerged from a rear entrance.
The gunman has been tentatively identified as “a 51-year-old, local man.”
Aaron said police will soon detonate the man’s two backpacks. He said people will hear a loud bang, but he pointedly said it should not be called a “bomb.”
Reporter Tony Gonzalez sends this photo from the press briefing.
Update 3:04 p.m.
Nashville Police Department Don Aaron tells reporters that the suspect was shot after he came out of the rear door of the movie theater. The suspect was a 51-year-old local man, although police are still confirming his identity.
He was wearing a surgical mask, perhaps to negate the effects of the chemical spray he was carrying, Aaron says.
The victims — one man and two women — were not seriously injured, Aaron says: The man had a cut on his shoulder, the women were “doused” in pepper spray. They are currently being interviewed by police, Aaron says.
Update 2:57 p.m.
Nashville Fire Department spokesman Brian Haas says there are three patients being treated for pepper spray, which he believes came from the hands of the assailant. One victim had a “superficial injury” that could have come from a blow from a hatchet. No severe injuries are reported.
“At this point, there are no transports, no trauma injuries that we know of,” Haas tells WPLN.
Update 2:50 p.m.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is on the scene
BREAKING: ATF agents & resources on scene of #NashvilleShooting at Antioch,TN theater.— ATF HQ (@ATFHQ) August 5, 2015
Update 2:41 p.m.
Katrina Siguenza was parked across the street from the theater when she saw cops flooding the theater.
“All of a sudden we heard shots just go off everywhere,” she tells WPLN’s Tony Gonzalez. “It sounded like a bunch of fireworks going off, but no spark.
“There was a big standoff, and of course cops are everywhere.”
Update 2:39 p.m.
Here’s what Metro Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron told reporters a few minutes ago:
“At 1:15 this afternoon, the police department responded to the report of an active shooter at the Hickory 8 movie theater [in Antioch]. The individual was reported to be armed with a gun and a hatchet. 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 trying to look at what injuries we may have here.
“The response from the south precinct was swift. An officer entered the theater where Mad Max was showing. The officer started at the projection room and started clearing down. He encountered the gunman, the gunman opened fire on the south precinct officer. That officer returned his fire and then backed away out of the theater.
“The SWAT team responded. The SWAT team engaged this gunman some minutes later. There was gunfire and the gunman is deceased just inside the movie theater.
“So we believe the imminent threat has been ended. However, the gunman had two backpack-type bags with him: one on him, another that was left. We want to make sure that there is no danger with those backpacks, so officers are working now from hazardous devices to clear those backpacks.
“That’s all I can give you at the moment. We’ll have more later. That’s a quick summary of an active situation that’s still going on with the clearing of these backpacks.”
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