‘I’m trying to give you a better deal’: Customer pulls gun on Burger King employee for giving him a discount
WILLOWICK, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) – A Burger King customer in Ohio was caught on camera pointing a gun at a drive-thru employee who was trying to give him a discount.
Police in Willowick are still searching for the disgruntled customer. The incident happened Sunday morning at around 9 a.m. at the Burger King on Vine Street.
The suspect can be seen on surveillance video getting out of his car and pointing a gun at 38-year-old Howard Vernon, who was working in the drive-thru.
Vernon said he was taking the customer’s order – two sausage, egg and cheese croissants, a sausage biscuit, and hashbrowns – and the order came out to around $8.
“He was like, ‘My order can’t be right, it should be like $11,’ and I’m like trying to explain to him that we had a promotion going on, and like it’s cheaper, and he started cussing and getting all loud, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what to tell you, I don’t know why you want to pay more money,’” Vernon said.
Vernon said after the argument, the customer sped off. But a minute later, he pulled back around to the drive-thru window as Vernon was helping another customer. That’s when the suspect pulled out the gun.
Vernon said the man threatened to kill him and called him a racial slur.
“To know that somebody would do something like that just because I’m trying to give you a better deal and just to flip out like that, yes, it is scary,” Vernon said.
Vernon has not been back to work at Burger King since the incident but said he plans to return.
“At the end of the day, it was about some bread and sausage sandwiches at 9 o’clock in the morning on Easter, and you’re that mad that you’d put a gun in somebody’s face?” Vernon said. “… I don’t know why people are so angry out here at 9 o’clock in the morning.”
The suspect was driving a gray Honda sedan and was wearing a gray sweatshirt and a hat.
If you recognize the man in the video, call Willowick police at 440-585-1234.
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