Emergency workers gather outside of a Nashville-area theater where a gunman wearing a surgical mask opened fire at a showing of the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road" in Nashville, Tennessee August 5, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A man wielding an ax at a Nashville-area movie theater who was shot dead by police on Wednesday was found to be carrying a pellet gun, authorities said.

The man, identified by Nashville police as Vincente David Montano, 29, was pronounced dead outside the backdoor of the theater, which was showing "Mad Max: Fury Road."

He injured three people when he doused the theater with pepper spray, police said. The man also had a device in a backpack that was supposed to look like a bomb, Nashville police said.

The gun he was carrying looked like a real firearm but was an airsoft pistol, Nashville police said on Twitter. The replica pistols may fire plastic or aluminum pellets.

"The only person who was shot was the suspect as he emerged out of the rear door of the single movie theater," police spokesman Don Aaron told reporters.

Aaron said police officers working an accident scene nearby quickly responded to the reports of a gunman at the theater. One of them entered the theater and encountered the man, who fired at the officer, police said.

The officer returned fire and waited for backup.

The man appeared to be shot dead in a hail of bullets from police when he tried to exit the theater, a witness said.