Man arrested after allegedly pulling gun on group of teens at McDonald’s
Minnesota police arrested a man on Wednesday after he allegedly pulled a gun on a group of teens at a McDonald’s restaurant.
The city of Eden Prairie, Minn., announced that police arrested Lloyd Edward Johnson, 55, under probable cause for second-degree assault. Johnson is being held in custody at the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center.
{mosads}His arrest comes only days after Johnson got in a heated confrontation with a group of mostly Somali-American teens at the fast-food chain in a suburb outside of Minneapolis.
Jihan Abdullahi told The New York Times that the altercation occurred after the McDonald’s system didn’t initially accept her and her friends’ payments.
According to Abdullah, Johnson began to complain and later asked them if they were using electronic benefits transfer cards to pay for their meals.
Jihan responded by asking if Johnson was only asking that question because they were black. It led to a verbal argument, before Edwards allegedly placed his hands in his pockets.
Jihan said “he told everybody to back up.”
Video of the encounter shows Johnson yelling at the teens as he exits the restaurant. A group of individuals can then be seen running and shouting that the man had a gun.
@McDonalds is this what you stand for? We were just trying to order when this man said racist remarks, claimed to be touched (when really he pushed a kid as seen on video) pulled a gun out on kids and you still kick us out knowing we’re in danger? 1/2 pic.twitter.com/3vKXsxhuwH
— farida (@snatchingedgess) November 19, 2018
McDonald’s faced criticism for some of its employees’ response to the incident. A separate video shows an employee calling for the teenagers to leave the restaurant, even as a bystander says, “don’t send them out there when the dude just pulled a f—ing gun on them.”
Another video shared by Farida Osman, a teen at the restaurant, shows a different McDonald’s employee telling the group: “If he pulled out a gun it’s for a reason.”
Eden Prairie’s investigation into the incident remains active.
“Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our customers and employees,” Paul Ostergaard, the owner and operator of the Eden Prairie McDonald’s franchise location, said in a statement.
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