A frightening incident occurred at the Tupelo Honey Southern Kitchen & Bar in Raleigh when, during a busy brunch service, an employee brandished a firearm at another worker, The Raleigh Police Department told The News & Observer. The altercation took place on Sunday at the restaurant located on Oberlin Road in the Village District, with no shots reportedly fired, and the situation was described as "assault by pointing" a gun, which is considered a Class A1 misdemeanor in the state of North Carolina.
Details given to ABC11 by the police noted that two employees engaged in a physical confrontation in the kitchen area, subsequently they were separated by fellow staff members, but one individual escalated the incident by pulling out a gun which sent the other employee fleeing to seek refuge in a nearby parking deck; the armed individual then fled the scene in an unidentified direction. The restaurant did not open for the remainder of the day following the event, with calls to the establishment being greeted by a recorded message informing of the closure.
According to police, there were initial reports of gunfire at the restaurant; however, such reports were later dispelled, as confirmed by CBS 17. The incident initially prompted a response from officers expecting a shooting situation, during which they learned that the altercation was strictly between two employees, with one pulling a firearm from his waistband during the scuffle.
Scene photos from an ABC11 viewer showed the area cordoned off with police tape, as authorities secured the establishment on Oberlin Road, where the employee who took refuge in the parking deck suffered minor injuries due to the fight and received treatment from EMS on the scene, the one who exhibited the firearm is still at large with authorities in pursuit, aiming to charge him with misdemeanor assault among other charges.
