US police have shot dead an ax-wielding man who opened fire in a cinema in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday after dousing the auditorium with pepper spray.

Police say the attack that took place during a screening of “Mad Max: Fury Road”.

Three people were treated for exposure to the spray, including a man who also suffered a superficial wound to the shoulder.

None of the victims was taken to hospital.

Police say they responded quickly and when confronted the man fired at an officer.

“Ultimately the suspect, who I’m told was wearing a surgical mask, came out of a back door of the theatre”, Don Aaron of Metro Nashville Police Department told reporters. “Metro officers at the back of the theatre outside engaged him. He was shot, fatally wounded and was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

The shooting came less than two weeks after three people were killed and nine wounded when a gunman opened fire in a cinema in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Three years ago 12 people died and