Restaurant Attack Leaves Delivery Driver Dead, Worker Injured

Safety at Work

Oswego, IL (WorkersCompensation.com) – A violent rampage by a customer in a Chick-fil-A has left a delivery driver dead and a restaurant worker injured, officials said.

Police in Oswego, Ill., were called to a Chick-fil-A restaurant at about 5 a.m. on Oct. 22 for reports of a stabbing. When they arrived, they found workers on top of a man they said had gone on a rampage.

Police also discovered the body of another person at the scene. Police said they determined that victim was a delivery driver. First responders attempted to provide medical aid, but the delivery driver was pronounced dead at the scene. During a search of the establishment, they also determined that one of the workers holding the suspect down had been injured.

An investigation determined the suspect had broken into the restaurant through its back door and attacked the delivery driver. The suspect then attacked a maintenance worker outside the restaurant. A bystander witnessed the attack and called 911, then helped the worker detain the suspect until police could arrive.

The worker was taken to the hospital with serious injuries but was listed as being in stable condition on Oct. 23.

The incident is just another in the continuing trend of assault on service workers.

In Norwalk, Ohio, police said a female hotel employee was violently attacked by a guest after he checked in. The suspect, Eric Carroll, 33, faces multiple felony charges including attempted kidnapping.

Police said the attack happened just after 3 p.m. on Oct. 25 at the Econo Lodge on Milan Ave. Records indicate the hotel manager called 911 after a housekeeping employee came to him saying “there was violence” before running away.

“Our officers responded and spoke with other guests at the hotel and learned that a struggle had occurred in the room,” a spokesman with the Norwalk police said. Hotel guests also reported that a man had been seen fleeing from the room where the attack had occurred.

When police checked surveillance video, it showed Carroll entering the room, and then moments later screams could be heard. Video showed the employee leaving the room and running in one direction, while Carroll ran the other.

“In the video, you see Mr. Carroll attempt to gain entry into the hotel room by shaking the door handle. When it doesn’t open, he just waits there until she opens the door and then he forces his way in. The door shuts and you hear all this screaming,” the spokesman said.

Evidence from the room, as well as paperwork from the hotel, helped police to identify Carroll. Police located him a short time later when he crashed a stolen vehicle blocks away from the hotel.

Police took him into custody and determined he had been drinking when he was arrested. A hotel employee said Carroll had checked into the hotel two days earlier and told employees he’d just been released from jail after serving a 10 year sentence for involuntary manslaughter.

“When he came into the hotel, he said he wants a room and I said, ‘OK, give me your ID.’ He said, ‘I don’t have an ID, I’m coming straight from prison,'” Kabeel Khan, the hotel’s clerk, said.

The hotel employee said Carroll had no identification and had paid for the room with cash. Khan said he now regrets his decision to let him the room.

“I trusted him … he turned out to be the same whole person he was in the jail — a criminal,” Khan said.

The victim was treated at the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Carroll is being held without bond and faces multiple felony charges including abduction, strangulation and theft of a motor vehicle.

And in Vancouver, Wash., a 7-Eleven worker is dead after a customer killed them during what police said appears to be a murder-suicide.

Officials said deputies and other first responders were called to the 7-Eleven on Highway 99 on Oct. 17 for reports of a shooting. When they arrived, they found two men inside the store with gunshot wounds. Both men were taken to the hospital, and both were later pronounced dead.

The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the two men as 26-year-old Ryan Taylor of Vancouver, and 37-year-old Pardeep Kumar. Officials said Taylor shot and killed Kumar before turning the gun on himself.

Investigators said Kumar worked at the store and had no connection to Taylor. They believe, based on evidence at the scene, the shooting was a murder-suicide, but no motive for Kumar’s death was given. Police said they are continuing to investigate the incident.

Share This Article: