Mad Max theater gunman Vincente David Montano attacked Antioch audience with hachet

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Police identified Vincente David Montano, 29, as theater assailant
Attacked Mad Max screening in Antioch, Tennessee, on Wednesday
Had realistic-looking Airsoft pistol, as well as an axe and pepper spray
Slashed a man's shoulder and doused theater with the irritant chemical
Officers confronted Montano inside then backed off while SWAT arrived
He was shot just outside the theater and his body taken from the scene
Police said that he had two backpacks, one with a fake bomb inside
Comes just two weeks after a deadly shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana

By Wills Robinson and Kieran Corcoran For Dailymail.com

Published: 14:25 EST, 5 August 2015 | Updated: 02:51 EST, 6 August 2015

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Suspect: Vincente David Montano, 29, attacked a movie theater on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee, with a fake pistol

This is the man who attacked a Nashville screening of Mad Max armed with a pellet gun and a hatchet before being shot dead by a SWAT team.

Police released an image of Vincente David Montano, 29, who was holding an Airsoft replica pistol when he attacked a mostly empty screening at the Carmike Hickory 8 theater around 1pm Wednesday.

Officers say he let off huge amounts of red-tinted tear gas and slashed a man with his axe.

Montano, who was wearing a surgical mask in the attack, was shot dead when he tried to leave via a back entrance.

Terrified moviegoers thought Montano's gun was real, and called in police, one of whom reportedly had a brief firefight with him.

Moments later he is said to have tried to escape the theater, where he was gunned down by a SWAT team just outside an emergency exit.

Officers said Montao was wearing two backpacks during the attack, one of which had a replica bomb inside - which disposal experts destroyed.

Police later revealed that Montano had a history of mental illness, including paranoid schizophrenia, and had been committed four times.

A spokesman for the Nashville Metro Police Department said he suffered 'significant psychiatric or psychological issues' and had been arrested in 2004 for assault and resisting arrest.

Police said that Montano's mother, Denise Pruit, filed a missing persons report with Texas rangers two days ago. She hadn't seen Montano in person since 2013.

Montano is thought to have cut one man's shoulder with his axe, and doused two women in pepper spray during the screening, which was attended by just eight people including the attacker.

Terrified guests ran out of the screening and alerted police, who dealt with Montano until a SWAT team arrived and shot him dead.

Scroll down for video

Suspect: Officials are pictured removing Montano's body Carmike 8 movie theater in Antioch, Tennessee, outside Nashville after an attack Wednesday afternoon

Response: Heavily-armed officers are pictured entering the theater after the attack. Montano was killed by SWAT officers

Weapon: Pictured is the Airsoft replica pistol which Montano was carrying, and reportedly tried to fire at a police officer

Weapon: This is the hatchet the suspect used to attack one of the victims in the theater shooting, whom he is said to have cut on the shoulder

In the wake of the attack, police released an image of Montano's realistic-looking replica gun had, and revealed it was in fact an Airsoft pellet gun.

Police originally said that the suspect was 51 years old, but later revealed that their information was wrong and he was in fact 29.

Witnesses said the shoot-out with officers lasted up to three minutes.

A 58-year-old man, identified only as Steve, was injured by the Montano's axe, reportedly suffering a cut to his shoulder. Two women - aged 53 and 17 - were treated for chemical exposure at the scene after the inside of the theater was doused with red-tinted pepper spray.

Eyewitness says 'we heard screams and then a shot'

Scene: Footage taken from a helicopter appears to show Montano's body, left, laying at the back of the movie theater

Montano was carrying two backpacks at the time, one on his chest and one on his back.

Police destroyed one, which they said contained a fake bomb. The second backpack was reportedly empty.

It comes just two weeks after John Russell Houser open fired in a Lafayette, Louisiana, theater - killing two people and injuring nine - during a showing of the Amy Schumer movie Trainwreck.

Police told how terrified moviegoers fled the theater after the attack started, and called two police officers over to deal with Montano.

One officer was said to have confronted him in a projection room in what was originally described as a firefight. Neither the officer nor Montano was injured in that exchange.

Shortly afterward the SWAT officers arrived, and shot Montano dead when he headed outside.

Gunshots heard coming from Antioch movie theater

Emergency: First responders can be seen above outside the movie theater

A short time later the suspect was shot dead by police. A heavy presence of law enforcerment officers set up a perimeter around the theater

Explosives? Bomb dogs were brought in to check vehicles in the parking lot after two suspicious backpacks were found. Police said there was a fake bomb in one of them

When he got outside, he was gunned down by officers from a SWAT team.

Officers then walked into the theater to search the scene and were forced to wear gas masks because the air was so thick with pepper spray.

In a second briefing on Wednesday evening, Antioch police chief Steve Anderson said that there were only eight people in the screening of Mad Max when the man began his attack.

Anderson said three officers went to the theater and were preparing to engage the man when the SWAT team arrived and took over.

Theater: The shooting took place at the Carkmike 8 Cinemas. Nearby businesses were also placed on lockdown

A witness told the Tennessean someone covered in blood was seen walking into the theater which is set in a mall. Another said they heard gunshots but then police fired back.

Jeremy Cardoza, who works at Ford Ice Center nearby, told the newspaper they were on lockdown and no one was allowed in or to leave.

He said there were about 25 people there at the time, mostly children.

'We're waiting on instructions from police, we have not been contacted yet,' he said.

'We had a parent come in and they kind of just told us that there were a bunch of cops posted outside.'

Mad Max: Fury Road, the movie that was showing at the time, is based on a post-apocalyptic world where violent gangs led by warlords fight one another over increasingly scarce resources like water and petroleum.

Nashville police spokesman describes the scene of shooting