Wayward deer smashes into downtown Raleigh business

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A restoration crew was kept busy cleaning up shattered glass and boarding up windows Thursday morning after a deer caused quite a bit of damage inside of a downtown Raleigh restaurant.

According to staff, the wayward animal barged into the Moonlight Pizza Company on Morgan Street and smashed through double-pane windows.

Nobody was inside the restaurant at the time because the incident happened late Wednesday night.

An employee found the deer in the dining room when she opened the store the next morning. The staff member screamed and then the deer escaped.

Servers said they are shocked that this happened in busy, downtown Raleigh.

"It's definitely not (normal)," said Moonlight server Jeremy Burris. "A deer in downtown Raleigh compared to somewhere where there's more of an open field?"

The business was closed for lunch on Thursday; however, the health department gave the green light to Moonlight to reopen for dinner.

This is the second incident in a week where a deer caused mayhem inside a Wake County building.

Last Friday, one crashed through a window at the Rolesville Elementary School.

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