Girl Injured When Deer Goes on Rampage Inside Convenience Store

UPDATED 5:35 P.M.

An 11-year-old girl escaped serious injury after a deer went on a rampage inside a Dacula convenience store.

manager Amanda Easterling said the incident happened shortly after 4 p.m. on Sunday.

“We were just slammed busy and all of a sudden this deer just comes barreling through our door,” she said.

The deer shattered the glass and collided with an 11-year-old girl that was exiting the store with her brother.

“The deer actually hit her, knocked her down. She hit her head,” Easterling said. “The deer started running through the store, knocking stuff over -- beer going everywhere.”

Easterling and others got the girl behind the counter and called 911. Easterling initially thought the girl had suffered cuts due to the fact she had blood on her, but it was later determined the blood belonged to the deer.

For the next 15 minutes, the deer ran loose through the store. 

“It was very intense,” she said.

According to the police report, by the time officers arrived, the deer had collapsed from its injuries and was bleeding from its mouth. Two officers made sure the deer did not get up while medical personnel treated the injured girl. Once animal control arrived, the decision was made that the animal had to be euthanized. Officers cleared everyone out of the store and shot the deer.

The reporting officer wrote that the other officer, "shot the deer through the head and it expired. We dragged it out of the store and loaded [it] into the animal control truck. It was a male deer approximately 125 pounds." 

The girl was transported to Gwinnett Medical Center for treatment of her injuries.

Easterling said the store was closed from roughly 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. while employees cleaned up the damage.

Though the incident was disturbing, no one was seriously hurt.

“The dad came back last night and said that [the girl] was okay, that it was a mild concussion and that she’d probably be really sore,” Easterling said.