Waffle House Restroom Incident Escalates

Verbal arguments can result in arrests and charges being filed as evidenced by recent Gwinnett County Police reports of incidents in unincorporated Duluth.

Confrontation Over Restroom – A Waffle House customer, who became upset after another customer confronted him about why he had taken so long in the men’s restroom, was arrested after he allegedly threatened his verbal assailant with a handgun in the parking lot. The Aug. 18 incident began at the Waffle House at 1825 Pleasant Hill Road when the customer was asked by the other customer what he had been doing in the restroom with his mother. A server at the restaurant told police that the two men became involved in a verbal dispute.

According to witnesses, the verbal exchange continued in the parking lot as the two customers and their parties were heading to their vehicles to leave. The customer who had been confronted inside the restaurant reportedly removed a handgun from his mother’s car, pointed it at the head of the other customer and stated: “Say Something Now. What Are You Going to Do Now?” He walked around the other man, still pointing the gun at his head, then lowered the gun, and got into the front passenger seat of the car with his mother and girlfriend, and left the scene.

Another officer spotted the vehicle in which the suspect was riding at Steve Reynolds Boulevard and the I-85 southbound ramp and performed a traffic stop. The officer reported finding a 9mm silver handgun about 20 yards from the window where the suspect had been sitting in the car. The serial number on the gun had been filed down. Three loaded ammunition magazines were also recovered.

The suspect, who gave a Lawrenceville address, told police that he and his mother had been having a private conversation about his girlfriend in the men’s restroom. He was charged with aggravated assault on the customer and simple assault on the server, who claimed he was disrespectful and lunged at her when she was giving him change as he was leaving the restaurant. In addition, he was charged with altering the handgun’s identifying serial number.

'Please Don't Shoot Me!' – Two young men were arrested after a young woman told Gwinnett Police Aug. 15 that they had threatened her and her boyfriend with a handgun near the pool at Breckinridge Station Apartments Pool on Durwood Lane. An anonymous caller had reported hearing the woman shout “Please Don’t Shoot Me!” near the apartment poolhouse. The woman told police that they were trying to pick a fight with her boyfriend.

A responding policeman recognized the name of one of the suspects. Police tracked down their whereabouts and arrested them both at the home of the other suspect’s mother. They were each charged with two counts of aggravated assault. The gun, later recovered near the apartment complex, turned out to be a black pellet pistol.

This article was based on incident reports supplied opon request from the Gwinnett County Police Department.