A wayward deer provided a smash thriller at Grandin Theatre Tuesday afternoon.
For reasons clear only to the animal, the deer jumped straight through a large glass window, giving customers and staff a shock.
“All of a sudden I heard a huge smash and our big gumball machine was flipped over and a deer was there,” said Tiffany Holden, the theatre’s assistant manager, who had a front-row seat for the mêlĂ©e.
Holden didn’t see the animal approach the window and said the crash was the first indication something was wrong.
“You just heard this big crash and then I ran out of the office and there was a deer.”
Once inside the theatre the animal went wild, smashing against other windows and knocking objects over. The deer was on the smaller side, but Holden still said the experience was terrifying.
“It just went, basically, on a tirade in the lobby. It knocked on all the glass trying to get out,” she said. “When it tried to get outside it couldn’t find anywhere to get out.”
Holden said she and several customers managed to chase the deer out the front door.
No one was injured in the confusion, and once the adrenaline wore off, staff and theatregoers could only laugh at the situation. The latest instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is now playing and it has been drawing huge numbers.
“It must have really wanted to see that movie,” she joked, noting other than the smashed window the building sustained little damage.
RCMP officers responded to the crash and tried in vain to track the animal.
Const. Janice Schoepp said the deer was cut in the accident and officers followed a blood trail through the parking lot but it ended and the deer was not located.
