NASHVILLE, Tennessee — The continuing investigation into the background of movie theater active shooter suspect Vincente David Montano shows that he was present at the Nashville Union Rescue Mission on three dates this year, May 6, August 3 and August 4. It is unclear, however, whether he actually stayed overnight at the facility.
On Monday evening at 6:05 p.m., a Central Precinct officer went to the Mission to check for Montano after his mother called requesting that the MNPD check on his welfare. His mother reported that she last saw him three years ago and that he had a history of mental issues. His mother had been told by other sources that Montano had an identification only card issued by the Tennessee Department of Safety on June 15, 2015.
The address on the ID card listed the address for another Mission facility that provides services for women and children, not men. Montano was not present at the Mission when the officer arrived. The officer was told that he was last there in May.
On Wednesday, Montano was seen in the area of the Hickory 8 movie theater on foot. The police department has received no reports of anyone seeing him in a vehicle, nor has any vehicle in that immediate area been linked to him. He did not have a Tennessee driver license.
The investigation shows that Montano arrived at the Hickory 8 theater 20 to 25 minutes before the start of the Mad Max movie. Montano purchased a ticket, asked for a cup of water and then went into the auditorium. He initially sat in the front left corner of the theater. Two women in the theater said Montano stared at them for several minutes before standing up, putting on a backpack and slinging a duffle bag over his shoulder. He took a few steps toward the two women, turned around, put the bags down and reseated himself.
After a few minutes, more patrons entered the auditorium, Montano again put on his backpack and duffel bag, walked to the row where the two women were sitting, and doused them in the face with chemical spray. A man with them (Steven, who spoke at a news briefing Wednesday) stood up to intervene and was struck in the shoulder with the ax/hatchet. Montano then blocked the left exit door. The seven other persons in the theater at the time exited through the door on the right side.
Officer Jonathan Frith was among the first officers to enter the Hickory 8 building. He and his colleagues first tried to locate the suspect by going into the upstairs projection area. They did not see him. Knowing that the attack had occurred in theater #4, Frith opened the door on the left side and immediately encountered Montano just feet away. Frith heard 3 pops from his blind side, which sounded as if they came from a small caliber weapon. Frith felt pressure on his face and initially believed he had been shot. Frith fired at Montano with his patrol rifle and backed out of the theater door. He and other officers kept Montano contained there until Special Response Team/SWAT officers arrived.
When four SWAT team members deployed into the theater, Montano had already discharged significant chemical spray into the auditorium. The theater was dimly lit. The SWAT members shouted repeated commands at Montano to surrender. Some of those officers reported hearing pops as if from a small caliber firearm. Montano was also hurling objects, including chemical spray canisters, at them. Montano also brought a propane canister into the theater along with a lighter and lighter fluid.
Montano repeatedly engaged the SWAT officers by pointing his arms in their direction and by throwing objects as he came in and out from a position of cover near the front of the theater. They fired on him over a period of minutes inside the theater before Montano made the decision to flee out of the rear auditorium door. He discarded his pistol, which may have been damaged by SWAT gunfire, inside the auditorium (the gun turned out to be an airsoft pistol that closely resembled a semi-automatic handgun). As he emerged to the outside, Montano’s left hand was underneath the duffel bag that he was wearing across his chest, indicating to awaiting officers that he may have an explosive. He carried the ax/hatchet in his right hand. Five officers at the rear of the theater, believing they were in imminent danger, opened fire on Montano, who was fatally wounded at the rear of the building.
