Dunkin’ employee shoots at customer for complaining about slow service, NC cops say
A complaint about slow service at a Dunkin’ Donuts ended with one of the employees chasing the customer in traffic, firing shots at him, according to investigators in North Carolina.
It happened Saturday, March 2, at a Dunkin’ in the Wesley Chapel area, and the customer escaped injury, the Union County Sheriff’s Office reported in a news release. Wesley Chapel is about 20 miles southeast of uptown Charlotte.
“This incident began when the (911) caller, a restaurant customer, expressed dissatisfaction with the restaurant’s service speed and requested a refund for his meal,” the sheriff’s office said in a March 4 news release.
“A verbal altercation then occurred between the caller and a Dunkin’ Donuts employee. ... The caller then left the store and drove away in his truck. While driving down Weddington Road, the caller reported that (the employee) began following him and drove into oncoming traffic, pulling alongside his vehicle.
“At that time, (the employee) presented a pistol and fired multiple shots into the caller’s truck,” officials said.
The customer escaped injury and reported the incident to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies found the 18-year-old suspect “driving his car near the area where the shooting had just occurred,” officials said.
A brief pursuit occurred when the suspect refused to stop, but his vehicle came to a halt when it crashed in a field, officials said. He then surrendered without incident.
“A search of his vehicle yielded the discovery of a semi-automatic pistol with an altered serial number and additional evidence of the shooting,” the sheriff’s office said.
The suspect was arrested and charged with two counts of felony discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling, felony fleeing to elude arrest, and possessing a firearm with an altered/damaged serial number, records show. Bond was set at $4,000.
This story was originally published March 5, 2024 at 7:42 AM with the headline "Dunkin’ employee shoots at customer for complaining about slow service, NC cops say."