Unfortunate Murders That Happened At Restaurants Throughout Modern History

When we think of eating out at a restaurant, we think of good food and fun with family and friends. But some employees and restaurant-goers have witnessed brutal violence while working or visiting their favorite dining establishments. Whether they happen at a fast-food joint or a famous eatery, restaurant murders are equally horrific.

Occasionally, the restaurant employees are the offending criminals.

While, other times, alleged mobsters orchestrate infamous restaurant hits. Some of these locations remain open and are historic sites in their own right. Many, however, have since closed since the crimes occurred.

These horrific murders take restaurant red flags to a whole new level. The next time you’re annoyingly cold at a restaurant, be thankful. Like the victims of these terrible slayings, you could encounter a much more traumatic dining experience.

1. A Man Shot Two People At A Caribbean Restaurant

It was the result of an altercation.

During a meeting between customer Darrell Chaney and Barrington Brown, the owner of Dunn’s River Jamaican and Caribbean Restaurant, a fight broke out. When Brown went to the back of the restaurant, Chaney shot the man working the register, Akhi Ar-Rad Abdul Haqq Murad. When Brown came back to the front, Chaney fatally shot Brown.

One woman hid under the table.

There was one woman who couldn’t escape the restaurant, so she hid under a table. Chaney insisted she come out, but the woman told him she was “with God,” and he walked away.

2. Someone Shot A Man Handing Out Money At Waffle House

He was trying to do a good deed.

When Craig Brewer walked into a Waffle House in Gainesville, FL, he intended to distribute $20 bills to pay for people’s food. But when he upset Ezekiel Hicks by denying money to his friend, Hicks left the restaurant and retrieved a gun from his house. When Hicks returned, he fatally shot Brewer.

Authorities had no shortage of evidence in this case.

It didn’t take much to pin the crime on Hicks. A security camera recorded the tragedy, and police discovered Hick’s gun at the scene of the crime. Police charged him with premeditated first-degree murder and for carrying an unlicensed firearm. Authorities held Hicks without bail after they arrested him in the Waffle House parking lot where he confessed to shooting Brewer.

3. A Surprise Stream Of Bullets Killed Mob Boss Carmine Galante

He was eating at a Brooklyn restaurant on the patio.

Suspected hitmen approached Galante and his associates while they dined outdoors. The hitmen shot Galante, restaurant owner Giuseppe Turano, and bodyguard Leonardo Coppolla at point-blank range. Turano’s teenage son, John, also suffered injuries when the perpetrators shot him in the back.

There were several getaway cars.

The murder seemed to be a professional job. The hitman was accompanied by two partners who were both armed. Witnesses said the perpetrators fled in two or three different cars. The men may have been associated with Frank Tieri, who leads a competing crime family. Galante was one of the late ’70s most powerful bosses. He was targeted for aspiring to succeed Carlo Gambino, a deceased but once-powerful mob leader.

4. This Man Went Back To His Table After Someone Shot Him In The Restroom

He didn’t want to die in the bathroom.

Dutch Schultz had a hit on him after he allegedly denied mafia leadership’s commands. Schultz wanted to kill prosecutor Thomas E.Dewey, a man who was working on Schultz’s tax evasion trial. Mafia leadership turned down his request, but Schultz defied orders and attempted to carry out the hit on his own.

Medical professionals gave him brandy.

While Schultz used the Palace Chophouse restroom, a member of crime organization Murder Inc. shot the man right beneath the heart. Schultz made it to his seat, where he slouched, unresponsive. When paramedics arrived, they gave him brandy on his ride over to the hospital because they didn’t have any pain medication.

Rust covered the bullets, making them even more deadly.

The perpetrator of the hit used bullets covered in rust. That way if the shooting didn’t kill Schultz, the rust would cause an infection in the bloodstream. Indeed, Schultz pulled through after surgery, and doctors gave him an optimistic prognosis. But he died 22 days later from the rust-induced infection.

5. One Man Destroyed An Entire Family Over A Gambling Debt During The So-Called “Pork Bun Murders”

The crime took place at a restaurant in Hong Kong.

Zheng Lin owned a restaurant called Eight Immortals. Despite his entrepreneurship, though, Lin had a serious gambling problem. And he borrowed money from family friend Huang Zhiheng to support his addiction. Unfortunately, he couldn’t pay it back. Consequently, Zhiheng held Lin’s son hostage inside of the restaurant and forced the other Lin family members to gag and bind each other.

A woman escaped and begin yelling for help.

After one of the family members escaped her ties and began to yell, Zhiheng fatally stabbed her then murdered the other eight people present. The attacker dismembered the bodies, wrapped the parts in trash bags, then threw the bags into either the ocean or into dumpsters across Hong Kong.

Police eventually caught the perpetrator but not before he took over the restaurant.

Because Zhiheng was a family friend, he operated the Eight Immortals restaurant without raising any red flags. Police became suspicious, however. So they investigated the man and were eventually able to pin the murders on him.

6. Seven People Died In A 2000s Wendy’s Shooting

The perpetrator used to work at the restaurant.

In 2000, John Taylor and Craig Godineaux had the manager of a Queens, NY, Wendy’s call his employees into his office for a supposed meeting. The pair then led the manager and six other employees into the restaurant freezer. After, Taylor and Godineaux shot them each in the head.

Two employees survived.

Although they had been shot in the head, two of the Wendy’s employees managed to survive, but they did sustain serious injuries. Taylor received the death sentence. Godineaux, however, was deemed ineligible for the death sentence. Instead, he received life in prison.

7. A Former Employee Of  Brown’s Chicken & Pasta Killed Seven Workers

It was eerily similar to the Wendy’s massacre.

Just outside of Chicago, in the city of Palatine, two men entered a Brown’s Chicken & Pasta and fatally attacked seven people. They shot and stabbed their victims, then stacked the bodies inside of the restaurant freezer.

The crime went unsolved for 14 years.

Police eventually learned James Degorski and Juan A. Luna Jr. were responsible for the crime. Although initially, they interviewed Luna and cleared him of any wrongdoing. Nine years later, Degorski’s girlfriend came forward and reported him to police. She said she waited so long because he threatened to kill her if she told anyone.

8. A Fatal Stabbing Occurred Outside Of Malibu’s Famed Neptune’s Net

It happened in the restaurant parking lot.

But this Malibu restaurant was previously famous for more prestigious reasons. It appeared in a plethora of TV shows and movies, such as The Fast and the Furious, The Hills, and Gossip Girl. In 2019, though, things changed. Just outside of Neptune’s Net, after closing time, a group of car enthusiasts got into an altercation during a late night meet up.

Police arrested an Ontario man in the incident.

The perpetrator, David Maldonado, stabbed his victim Omar Payeras over an issue that previously went unresolved. When the verbal argument turned physical, Maldonado fatally stabbed Payeras multiple times. Medical teams attempted to save Payeras, but he died in the parking lot from his wounds.

9. The Mob Killed A Man In Front Of His Loved Ones At A Clam Restaurant

It was a battle between families.

When Crazy Joe Gallo allegedly disrespected established mob syndicate territory, the Profaci put out a hit on him. Gallo was enjoying shrimp and scungilli salad on his birthday at Umberto’s Clam House when four men stormed into the restaurant firing.

His wife and daughter hid behind an overturned table.

Gallo’s bodyguard, Peter Diapoulas, sustained a wound but was able to return fire. But he missed as the perpetrators left the restaurant. The wounded Gallo staggered toward the door, shouting at the fleeing gunmen but stumbled and died on the street. It was the first time the mob killed a member in front of his wife and child.