[ad_1]
A man showed a gun during an argument with a group of American teenagers of Somali descent in a McDonald's of Minnesota, after mistakenly suggesting that they were using the gun. social assistance to pay for their food, said members of the group.
The confrontation with the man, which was partly captured on a video that was widely aired on Twitter, was held Monday at a McDonald's restaurant in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, in the southwestern suburbs of Minneapolis, and ended without any shots or injuries.
On Wednesday, the police at Eden Prairie arrested Lloyd Edward Johnson, 55, on the pretext of a probable cause of second degree aggression, the city said in a statement. Mr. Johnson was detained at the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center. Joyce Lorenz, a spokeswoman for the city, said Thursday that the Hennepin County Lawyer would decide whether to file a complaint.
For Jihan Abdullahi, one of the 17-year-old girls in the group, the confrontation was a shocking example of racism that left her frightened but grateful that the situation had not deteriorated.
"Someone could easily have died," Jihan said in an interview on Wednesday. "Everyone could easily have died."
Jihan said that she and some friends were doing their homework in a library on Monday when, shortly before 8 pm, they decided to go to a McDonald's located nearby.
"It's the McDonald's we go to every day," said Jihan. "It's our meeting place."
Jihan said that she and a friend had tried to pay an order for Cinnamon Melts with Apple Pay, the mobile payment application, but that the system was not working.
It was when the man started complaining that he wanted them to hurry, she said. Then, as they passed him after quitting the queue, he asked them if they were using electronic benefit transfer cards, which look like debit cards for fringe benefits, to pay for their food.
Jihan said that she had asked him if he had told her because she and her friends were black and that the man had said yes.
A verbal discussion escalated between the man and the teenagers before the man put his hands in his pockets, said Jihan, adding, "He told everyone to back off.
The following moments were captured on the mobile phone video. The video shows the man pointing at the group and shouting as he pulls out of the restaurant. Then the group suddenly disperses shouting that the man has a gun. Jihan said he saw shake a black handgun.
The video shows that the man left McDonald's, but a restaurant employee used insults to tell teens to leave the restaurant, despite the pleas of passersby not to put the teenagers in danger.
Another employee, who was also registered in a second video, told the group that the gun had been removed "for a reason".
Jihan said she hoped McDonald's would train its employees to respond better in such situations.
The meeting aroused the anger of the restaurant staff and the man about the treatment of teenagers. It has been described as a hate incident by the Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The state is home to more than 46,000 Somali-born residents and their children.
Paul Ostergaard, owner and operator of the Eden Prairie McDonald's franchise site, said in a statement that he was taking the deal seriously.
"Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and our employees," he said.
[ad_2]
Source link
