Man who allegedly pulled gun on teens in a McDonald's is arrested

Elise Solé
Lloyd Edward Johnson was arrested by Eden Prairie police in Minnesota for allegedly pulling a gun on a group of teenagers. (Photo: KSTP)
Lloyd Edward Johnson was arrested by Eden Prairie police in Minnesota for allegedly pulling a gun on a group of teenagers. (Photo: KSTP)

Police arrested a man who allegedly pulled a gun on a group of teens inside McDonald’s in Minnesota, after accusations that the restaurant mishandled the incident.

On Wednesday, Minnesota police officers arrested Lloyd Edward Johnson, 55, under probable cause for second-degree assault, according to a statement from the city of Eden Prairie, Minn. Johnson is being held at the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center, and charges will be determined by the county attorney’s office. A representative of the Eden Prairie Police Department declined to comment when reached by Yahoo Lifestyle.

One of the victims, 16-year-old Farida Osman, posted a video of the showdown inside an Eden Prairie McDonald’s Monday, tweeting, “McDonald’s, is this what you stand for? We were just trying to order when this man said racist remarks, claimed to be touched (when really he pushed a kid as seen on video) pulled a gun out on kids and you still kick us out knowing we’re in danger?”

That evening, after studying at the library, Osman and her friends Jihan Abdullahi, Amal Mohammed and Zainab Hassan visited McDonald’s for dinner. The group was placing an order for Cinnamon Melts with Apple Pay when Johnson asked if they were using welfare benefits.

According to the New York Times, Abdullahi asked Johnson if he made the statement because the teens were black and he answered yes. After the parties argued, “He told everybody to back up.”

A cellphone video shows a man pointing at the teens, yelling, as he backs out of the restaurant. Abdullahi told the New York Times that the man waved a black handgun in the air. Two employees ordered the teens to leave the store, despite the teens’ protests and a customer’s plea, “Hey, don’t send them out there when a dude just pulled a f***ing gun on them.”

A female employee yells, “I don’t give a f***. Now, get out of my store now.”

In another video tweet, the teens accuse an employee of saying, “If he pulled out a gun it’s for a reason.”

Paul Ostergaard, the owner of the Eden Prairie McDonald’s restaurant, told Yahoo Lifestyle in an email Wednesday, “Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our customers and employees. We take this matter seriously and are working with local law enforcement while we investigate the situation.”

There was a consensus on Twitter that the restaurant endangered the teens’ lives by kicking them out and that the gunman’s actions were racist. On Friday, the Eden Prairie restaurant had a nonworking number when called for comment by Yahoo Lifestyle.

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