RALEIGH, N.C. — Two men were arrested Monday after a fight at a Raleigh restaurant ended in a shooting on Mother’s Day.
According to Raleigh police, officers arrested 23-year-old Alexander Barnes and 51-year-old Jermaine Mitchell in connection with the Sunday shooting that occurred in the 5000 block of Falls of Neuse Road, the location of Big Ed’s Country Cooking in Raleigh.
Barnes was charged with:
- Assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill
- Assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury
- 3 counts of assault on a female
- Discharge a firearm in city limits
Mitchell was charged with:
- Assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury
On Sunday, Raleigh police responded to the call of the shooting just before noon. A witness said a fight broke out inside Big Ed’s Country Cooking North on Falls of Neuse Road, which led to shots being fired.
Two people were taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the fight. One person, later identified as a manager of the restaurant, was taken to a hospital with a non-life-threatening graze injury from gunfire, investigators said.
Customers inside the restaurant, who didn’t want their identities publicized, said a family feud at one table spilled over into the entire dining room.
“There was just so much chaos happening so quickly.”
They said two women started fighting which led to the shooting.
“One lady came around and gave a little shove to the shoulder of the other one, and then that one hit her. And then at that point, everything erupted.”
Another customer recorded the shooting and fighting on his phone and shared the video with CBS 17.
“One lady started choking out the other lady. And then right when that happened, I pulled my phone out. And that’s how, like, quickly it all transpired to, like, first punches getting into, like, gunshots being fired.”
In the cell phone video, a woman holding a child runs by as a man in a white shirt on the right side of the screen holds what appears to be a gun. He rushes toward other customers as three gunshots are heard loudly and clearly.
“He was shooting, like, I guess, warning shots, like, in the floor.”
During a brawl, the same man with the apparent gun punches a lady wearing a pink dress. She tumbles to the ground. The same man hits someone else while chairs and tables and plates are being tossed around as customers and employees run for their lives.
“There are so many people involved trying to stop it from escalating to people running for their lives. There were a lot of children there. There were grandparents there. There were kids in, you know, toddlers and and infant cars. I mean, and the place was packed with people outside waiting.”
Then a mom, who’s also a nurse, ran back inside to help tend to the wounded after the shooter got away.
“He was walking out and he had blood on his shirt and he’s like, yeah, that’s me. I’m I go now, they’ll respect or, you know, it was just some some sort of spin off of, you know, now they’ll know I’m for I’m business or something. It was just very chaotic and then I saw him get in his car with his mom and she drove away on Mother’s Day.”
Raleigh police said the three injured people — two of them from the fist fights, and the third grazed by a bullet — all had non-life-threatening injuries.
Via CBS