MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — Police arrested a man Tuesday after he allegedly fired a gun into a Memphis McDonald’s in October of 2021, narrowly missing an employee working at the drive-thru window.
Nexstar’s WREG reached that employee, Terrika Means, by phone Wednesday and talked to her about the near brush with a bullet.
“If I would’ve been over one inch – just a centimeter, an inch … that would’ve been the back of my head,” she said. “I see flashes of it every time.”
According to court documents, the incident began when Charles Connors, 61, became upset about his food order. An employee asked him to wait, but he pulled up to the first window and ordered.
“She cashed him out and she came and told me, ‘This man just cussed me out,'” Means recalled.
Means said Connors showed up just as there was a shift change for the evening. She talked to him at the next window.
“I asked him how he was doing and next thing you know I was like, ‘I was just informed that you just disrespected you know one of my young ladies and she’s just a young lady, she’s just a girl,” she said.
The employee told police that when Connors paid for his food, he used a racial slur towards her.
Means said Connors demanded a refund. She issued him the refund but said he began cursing and yelling racial slurs. Means told him to have a good night and closed the window.
“And when I closed the window and took two steps that’s when I felt the fire come across my neck,” she said.
He then pulled out a handgun, shot into the establishment, and fled the scene, police say.
Investigators identified Connors as the suspect on Dec. 24 after they got his information from the credit card he used moments before the shooting.
Police located Connors on Feb. 8 in East Memphis just a couple of blocks away from where the incident happened.
He is being charged with aggravated assault, two counts of criminal attempt to commit a felony, and two counts of possession of a firearm.
While she wasn’t physically hurt, the incident has left Means shaken. She said she feels somewhat relieved that Connors has been caught.
Means is now asking people to be patient with employees.
“At the end of the day we want you to understand that we’re doing the best that we can,” she said.