Masked man attacks drive-in theater worker with a bat, but she had a gun, TX cops say

Police say a man is dead after he and another man tried to rob a drive-in movie theater in Texas early Monday.

Two female managers at the Showboat Drive-in theater in Hockley were wrapping up their evening after a double-feature when they heard a noise downstairs, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said during a news conference.

Once downstairs, the women discovered a man in a utility closet and ordered him to come out, Gonzalez said. When he emerged, the managers saw he had a knife, but he quickly ran off.

Not long after, a second man emerged from either a closet or bathroom, Gonzalez said. He was wearing a partial mask and wielding a baseball bat.

Andrew Thomas, the theater’s owner, said he hit one of the managers “a couple times,” KPRC reported.

That’s when police say the manager grabbed her gun and fired a shot at the man, killing him.

Gonzalez said the masked man appeared to be a “younger adult male” possibly in his early 20s. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“They’re just trying to run a business out here,” Gonzalez said. “It’s pretty isolated out here, so they did what they needed to do to protect themselves.”

Police are still searching for the second man.

This story was originally published September 17, 2019 at 12:56 PM.