Good Samaritan paying for strangers' meals at Waffle House shot to death

Hope Schreiber
·Writer


A man who was handing out $20 bills and paying for meals at a Waffle House in Gainesville, Fla., was shot and killed over the weekend.

Police with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office arrested Ezekiel Hicks, 25, on murder charges in the death of the good Samaritan, 41-year-old Craig Brewer early Sunday. According to officials, the incident was captured on the restaurant’s surveillance camera.

The Gainseville Sun reports that a female friend of Hicks felt slighted that Brewer didn’t pay for her meal. Hicks then allegedly confronted Brewer on her behalf and what started as a verbal altercation escalated and became physical. Hicks then left the restaurant and returned with a 9mm Glock pistol. “As the fight continued, the suspect took the handgun from his pants and shot Brewer in the head,” a statement from the sheriff’s office read. Brewer died on the scene.

Hicks was arrested in the parking lot of the Waffle House, where he admitted to police to shooting Brewer.

According to Lt. Brett Rhodenizer, officers remain shocked at how quickly the incident escalated. Police were only minutes away from arriving at the Waffle House, as they received a call that the restaurant was over occupancy and needed assistance in clearing it out. “[The officers] feel like they were so close and just far enough away to where they couldn’t change the outcome,” Rhodenizer told ABC News. “This incident went from a verbal altercation to a homicide in minutes, if not seconds.”

“The speed at which it happened and how quickly it went so bad — for both the victim and the suspect — is really kind of the thing that resonates the most with a lot of the folks that have been a part of the investigation,” Rhodenizer said.

While the incident will continue to be investigated, as officers conduct follow-up interviews, Rhodenizer states the case is “incredibly straightforward.”

“Out of all the investigations that I’ve seen, very seldom do you have an incident from start to finish on video that ends in a murder,” he said.

Hicks is currently being held without bail on charges of premeditated murder in the first degree as well as carrying an unlicensed firearm. The scene of the crime, the Waffle House, has since been reopened.

A Waffle House spokesperson told NBC News, “We are saddened by this tragic incident and right now, our first thoughts are with the victim’s family during this most difficult time.”

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