GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A gun fell out of a man’s pocket and went off inside a Gwinnett County restaurant.
And what’s worse is the customer didn’t stick around to help.
The whole thing was caught on store surveillance video. You can hear the shot ring out and see people duck for cover on Saturday night at El Jinete along Centerville Highway.
“It did scare everybody. Everybody ran off,” restaurant manager Ramon Gutierrez told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson.
Guitierrez said his staff called him right afterwards at around 8 p.m., and right after they calmed down the customers.
“Fortunately for us, and everybody that was in it was, nobody was wounded or hurt,” Gutierrez said.
Police said the person who needed to stick around the most was the customer with the gun.
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“The individual left out of the restaurant with the firearm before police arrived,” said Cpl. Ryan Winderweedle with the Gwinnett County Police Department.
Police later identified Curtis Scott, 52, and arrested him for reckless conduct and tampering with evidence after they say he left the scene.
Investigators said people with guns in public have a responsibility to secure them.
“If you’re carrying a firearm, best practice is to carry it in a holster with retention, something that covers the trigger guard,” Winderweedle said.
Gutierrez said he hopes other gun owners learn from what happened here.
“It’s beyond me when you trust people to come into your establishment, and that happens,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said the restaurant has been open for more than 20 years without something like this happening, and he hopes it doesn’t happen again.
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