A horror movie almost came to life outside a metro Atlanta theater Christmas night.
Witnesses say a man waving an ax began beating on the front windows of the Carmike Cinemas on Scenic Highway. He didn’t get in, but he led police on a dangerous chase.
“We just heard a banging on the window door,” Mecca Bonds said. “As soon as I saw him, I thought something bad was going to happen.”
Bonds was inside the front lobby of the theater when, police said, 34-year-old Don Garrett went wild.
“We didn’t know what he wanted. He just looked crazy and intoxicated. I was surprised he didn’t shatter the glass,” Zach Bosworth said.
The last movies of the night were still being shown, but as they cleaned up for the evening, employees had already locked the lobby doors, which is what they said kept Garrett on the outside.
Bosworth said neither he nor the manager could understand what Garrett was yelling as he banged the backside of the ax against the windows.
“He had been inside watching a movie prior to it, so he might have been mad he couldn’t get back into the door,” Bosworth said.
Before police arrived, witnesses say Garrett threw the ax in his car and sped away.
Investigators say Garrett drove northbound in the southbound lanes of Highway 124 for a couple of miles before wrecking his car in the median. He ran away for a short distance before several officers apprehended him.
As police arrested him, a video camera inside one of the patrol cars recorded a conversation between an officer and Garrett.
Officer: Why were you running?
Garrett: I don't know.
Officer: What were you doing?
Garrett: Pcp, liquor- alcohol, pcp, ummm, meth --
Officer :Are you sure you've done all that?
Garrett: and crack...
Police say they found a crack pipe in Garrett’s car, along with the ax.
“We think it might have been taken from a customer at Carmike. We think he may have actually taken it from their truck,” Snellville Police Captain Greg Perry said.
Perry said investigators aren’t sure what, if anything, Garrett had planned if he had gotten inside the cinemas with the ax.
“I was scared at first, but then I was more than worried about the customers because we had a showing of Annie so there were a lot of kids in there,” Bosworth said.
Garrett is being held in the Gwinnett County jail on several charges. Police say he also had outstanding warrants for theft related incidents as well.
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