A complaint about slow service escalated drastically at a Dunkin' store over the weekend, leading to an employee chasing down and opening fire at a customer.
The incident took place at a Dunkin' location in Wesley Chapel, North Carolina, a neighborhood situated roughly 20 miles southeast of Charlotte, at an unspecified time of day on Saturday. According to an official release from the Union County Sheriff's Office shared to Facebook on Monday, deputies responded to a 911 call at the donut shop from a customer who claimed that an employee had fired a gun at them.
The situation began to escalate after the unnamed customer began complaining of slow service at the store and requested a refund for the food they had ordered. In turn, a "verbal altercation" broke out between the customer and the employee, later identified as 18-year-old Ricky Miller. The customer attempted to leave the store, at which point things took a particularly chaotic turn.
"The caller then left the store and drove away in his truck," the sheriff's office explained. "While driving down Weddington Road, the caller reported that Miller began following him and drove into oncoming traffic, pulling alongside his vehicle. At that time, Miller presented a pistol and fired multiple shots into the caller's truck."
Deputies with the sheriff's office patrol division responded to the call and eventually located Miller in his car near where the shooting had taken place. They attempted to pull him over for a traffic stop and began to pursue him when he failed to pull over. After a brief chase, he wrecked his vehicle in "a large field nearby," at which point he surrendered and was taken into custody by the deputies. A search of his vehicle turned up a semi-automatic pistol with an altered serial number and other things that were described as "additional evidence of the shooting."
No injuries were reported as a result of the incident. Newsweek reached out to Dunkin' via email on Tuesday afternoon for comment, and any responses received will be added to this story in an update.
Miller has been booked at the Union County Detention Center and charged with two counts of Felony Discharging a Firearm into an Occupied Dwelling, as well as counts of Felony Flee to Elude Arrest and Possessing a Firearm with an Altered/Damaged Serial Number. His secured bond was issued at $4,000 and he remained in custody as of Monday evening.
Update 03/05/24 1:56 p.m. ET: This headline was updated to reflect the request for a refund.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
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