A late-night run for tacos turned into a scare on Winchester Road when a gunman sprinted up to a Taco Bell drive-thru window in east Memphis on Saturday, pointed a handgun at a cashier, and grabbed about $160 from the register before taking off behind the building. The employee had been serving a customer at the window when the man flashed the weapon and demanded cash. No one was hurt, but workers at the restaurant were left badly shaken as police launched an active robbery investigation.
According to WVLT, officers were called around 11:07 p.m. to the Taco Bell on Winchester Road near Ridgeway. Surveillance footage shows the suspect brandishing a handgun at the window, ordering the cashier to hand over money, then reaching in to grab roughly $160 from the register before running northbound behind the business, police told the station.
Other Taco Bell Incidents Underscore Drive-Thru Risks
The holdup is the latest in a string of unsettling late-night fast-food incidents in the Memphis area. In March, Action News 5 reported that shots were fired through a Taco Bell drive-thru window in Frayser, narrowly missing an employee working inside. And in 2023, Action News 5 covered another Winchester Road case where a suspect reached through a drive-thru window and took the entire register, highlighting recurring safety concerns at some locations after dark.
How To Help
Anyone with information about Saturday’s robbery is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-CASH or submit a tip online. According to Crime Stoppers of Memphis, tips can be submitted anonymously, and rewards are offered for information that leads to arrests.
