Deer crashes Tennessee families' celebratory dinner in surreal video!
Martin, Tennessee - Two families sat down to enjoy their meal at a restaurant in Tennessee, but a deer decided to crash the party in the most literal way!
The Hayes and Owens families got together on Monday evening at The Grind in Martin, Tennessee – a restaurant known for its milkshakes, donuts, and Mac and cheese.
They wanted to celebrate after a successful basketball game with daughters Ruby and Ava.
The celebration ended with a bang, however, when out of the blue, a deer jumped through the large window pane next to the restaurant table!
"I hear a crash, and a deer is coming through the window," Alicia Owens told The Tennessean, "and it got up and was going crazy!"
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," she added. "It was so bizarre."
Deer incident ends in tragedy
The video from The Grind's surveillance camera shows the wild animal sliding around in panic on the restaurant's slippery tiled floor after jumping through the glass.
"I couldn’t comprehend it was actually a deer. We’re in the middle of town, across the street from the University of Tennessee Martin. It’s like, what in the world?" Owens recalled.
The deer eventually ran to the back of the restaurant, darting past the cash register, stove, and bar before finally taking the back exit to the patio, where its wild journey finally ended tragically: a patron pulled out his gun and shot the buck.
As if the situation weren't bad enough, the deer hit 13-year-old Ruby Hayes on the shoulder with its hind hoof as it jumped through the window. The schoolgirl was seriously injured and later had to get 11 stitches at the West Tennessee Healthcare Volunteer Hospital. Fortunately, Ruby was able to return home with her parents after treatment.
It is still unclear how the animal found its way into the restaurant.
The Owens family suspects the deer may have collided with a car and then, startled, tried to escape.
Cover photo: Collage/Screenshot/Facebook/Hector Lionel Batres