A Subway worker has opened up about how she was forced to shove her five-year-old under the counter of the store before being shot twice as her coworker was brutally killed.
Brittany Macon, 26, was shot dead inside the Subway store in Atlanta, in the US, on Sunday night after a customer became angry over too much mayonnaise on his sandwich.
Jada Statum, 24, reportedly pushed her son under the counter to keep him from getting hurt, before she herself was shot twice and left in critical condition.
Police announced the child will be going through trauma counselling following the event.
The Atlanta Police Department announced Monday that they have taken a 36-year-old Atlanta man into custody.
His name has yet to be publicly released due to the ongoing investigation.
However, police have confirmed that an Atlanta citizen had contacted them with 'information' about the suspect that helped them identify the worker's attacker.
The two women were new starters at the store, and were described as 'model employees'.
It was also added that they lived together and were best friends. Macon was said to have looked at Statum's son as her own.
Macon's family described her as a 'smart and sweet' woman, saying that she had paid for a family reunion so everyone could get together only a month prior to the shooting.
Speaking about the shooting in his own store, Subway co-owner Willie Glenn told local news: "It just breaks my heart to know that someone has the audacity to point a weapon, and shoot someone for as little as too much mayonnaise on a sandwich.
"He decided to escalate the situation and from there, that's when all hell broke loose".
According to Glenn, the store manager was reportedly working during the shooting. Apparently, he fired back at the suspect, but missed him.
"It is really unfortunate, I mean there is just a whole lot of shooting and killing going on and this was just ridiculous," Glenn said. "My heart goes out to my employees."
"I don't know what the world is coming to especially with our youth...They seem to be so hot-headed," he added.
"Everybody wants to carry a gun. Everybody wants to scare somebody with a gun. It's scary out here."
Al Bailey, the other co-owner, was in shock upon learning about what unfolded, saying: "You pull out a gun and shoot somebody, over a sandwich, my heart just breaks right now."
He is now calling on people to 'vote' out lawmakers who do nothing about Atlanta's gun problem.
"Everybody packing [a gun], what sense does it make?", he asked.
Surveillance footage of the shooting has yet to be publicly shared.
Interim Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum later told local news that arguments are the leading cause of homicides in 2022.
"An argument leads to someone picking up a weapon and firing that gun, leaving someone dead or someone critically injured," he said.
"We need individuals to talk out their disputes, walk away and do not pick up guns."
"We can take down drug operations that breed violent crime, we can dismantle gang organisations that breed violent crime, we can stop robbery crews that breed violent crime, we cannot stop someone who is mad because there is too much mayonnaise on their sandwich."
Glenn said the shooter had previously been served at the store, adding that he never had any issues with employees until now.
Speaking about the future of the store in the area, he said: "Because of what happened tonight, my partners and I are re-evaluating whether or not we're going to continue to do this, in this neighbourhood anyways."
