GASTONIA, N.C. -- Surveillance video shows a deer almost prancing around the indoor pool at Ashley Arms apartment building in Gastonia early Friday.

The apartment manager said the intruder stunned everyone.

“We were just in shock. We just could not get over it,” Meredith Gaddis said.

The entire building is locked and secured, so workers wondered how the animal got inside.

Grounds worker Billy Brice was the first to see the deer. He said, “I seen something by the pool that wasn't normal.”

He said when he saw the four-point buck in a locked room, he thought, "This must be a prank."

“Cause it's close to Halloween,” he said.

Workers said what they found really spooky is how the deer got inside.

Security cameras captured the animal running from a neighborhood near Lee Street, across busy Garrison Boulevard, and onto the elevated Ashley Arms patio.

The buck jumped over a brick fence and onto the roof of the indoor pool.

Not only did he survive the fall through the roof, he had the strength to swim for about 15 minutes.

Workers opened a door and employee Carl Moore grabbed a pool net and chased the deer to the shallow end.

“We was scared because it is a wild animal,” he said.

The deer ran into a glass door before finding the one that was open.

He then ran into another neighborhood.

Police searched the area hoping to find him and move him back to the wilderness, but the deer was long gone.

The apartment manager said the good news is that the incident happened at 8:30 a.m. Most of the tenants were already gone to work, which means the parking lot was empty, along with the patio and the pool.

• RAW VIDEO: Deer Takes A Dip In Gastonia Pool