Police in Willowick, Ohio, are searching for a man who took the old saying, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” to an illogical and extreme conclusion.
The man in question was caught on camera pointing a gun at a Burger King employee who was offering him a discount on his order on Easter Sunday, according to Cleveland CBS affiliate 19 News.
Employee Howard Tim Vernon is still shocked by the customer’s reaction to his attempt to save the buyer some cash on his order.
“To know that somebody would do something like that just because I’m trying to give you a better deal and it flip out like that, it is scary,” Vernon told 19 News.
Vernon, 38, said the customer ordered two sausage, egg and cheese croissants, a sausage biscuit and hashbrowns, which came out to $8 — less than the man expected.
“He was like, ‘My order can’t be right it, it should be like $11,’ and I’m trying to explain to him that we had a promotion going on and, like, it’s cheaper,” Vernon said. “He started cussing and getting all loud, and I was like, ‘Well, I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know why you want to pay more money.’”
The customer left, only to return with a cocked gun that he pointed at Vernon as the employee was serving another customer.
“He’s just saying, ‘I should kill you, n*****.’ He just kept saying that,” Vernon told Cleveland ABC affiliate News 5. “As he was pulling off, he was saying, ‘This place was ran so much better when it was ran by white people.’”
Vernon told the station he had never seen the man before Sunday’s incident and that he no longer works at Burger King.
“It’s just really crazy that somebody could do that. I’m thankful he didn’t pull the trigger,” he said.
The Willowick Police Department told HuffPost it is still looking for the suspect. The department posted surveillance photos from the incident on Facebook in hopes of finding him.
“Unfortunately, the cameras only appear to catch the front of the vehicle at the Burger King drive-thru,” Lt. Keith Lawrence told News 5. “And the state got rid of the front plate law a couple years ago, so no front plate. And we don’t have an identity.”
If arrested, Lawrence said the man could face a charge of aggravated menacing with a firearm. The alleged use of a racial slur could escalate charges further.
“If you’re pulling a firearm and pointing it at an employee over argument over a fast food order, I would say that person’s not using good firearm safety or common sense,” Lawrence said.
HuffPost reached out to Willowick police for an update, but no one immediately responded.
Vernon hopes the man who pointed the gun at him is arrested soon.
“He’s a thug. He needs to get caught. He needs to be in jail,” Vernon told News 5.