A security camera perched above the blacktop parking lot caught sight of him, a figure in a dark shirt and light pants lumbering along the side of Little Caesars restaurant, four blocks from the Intercoastal Waterway in Holly Hill, Florida, north of Daytona Beach. The pizza place was closed for the night, the parking lot empty.

The camera footage showed the man walking the length of the building, a 2-inch by 4-inch board in his right hand. When he stepped into the glare of a streetlight, the camera caught his face: he was wearing a demonic mask, the mouth smeared in blood-red paint. Police would later describe it as a clown mask. But an internet search of similar looking masks suggested something closer to a vampire.

Inside the Little Caesars, 28-year-old Heriberto Feliciano was locking the store up for the night, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported. Camera footage from inside the restaurant, released by Orlando’s News 6, showed Mr Feliciano push open the Little Caesers’s glass door, step out into the parking lot, and look to his right as the masked-man began attacking him with the board.

“This is unusual for the city of Holly Hill and we take this very seriously,” Holly Hill Police Chief Stephen Aldrich told News 6. “It was an ambush type of an attack and it does appear that [Mr Feliciano] was defending himself.”

The attack would prove deadly.

According to a police report cited by the News-Journal, Mr Feliciano was hit with the wooden board until it broke. The masked attacker then attempted to stab him with a pair of scissors.

Mr Feliciano, a conceal carry permit holder, was able to pull his gun on his attacker, firing four to five times into the masked man.

Holly Hill police quickly responded to the scene, arriving at the Little Caesars around 11.50pm on Saturday night. The suspect – who has not yet been officially identified – was found unresponsive in the middle of the parking lot suffering from gunshot wounds.

The scissors and clown mask were scattered on the ground nearby. The suspect was taken to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.

“I’m glad that he was able to defend himself and that he’s okay,” Mr Aldrich told ABC 9. “It’s just unfortunate that this whole episode occurred.”

Mr Feliciano reportedly suffered injuries to his face and shoulders and was treated at a hospital. His father told ABC 9 Mr Feliciano is “deeply affected” by the attack and has had trouble sleeping. The victim is scheduled to meet with investigators on Tuesday.