Gunman killed, hostages freed at SC restaurant
‘Disgruntled’ dishwasher murdered chef, police say
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A fired dishwasher shot and killed a chef and held a “small number” of people hostage for about three hours before he was shot by police at a crowded restaurant in a tourist-heavy area of downtown Charleston, South Carolina, on Thursday, authorities and one of the restaurant’s owners said.
The hostages were freed with no injuries, Mayor John Tecklenburg said. The shooting took place at Virginia’s restaurant on the usually crowded King Street, a line of shops and nice dining that caters to both tourists and residents in South Carolina’s largest and most historic city.
Tecklenburg quickly said the shooting was “the act of a disgruntled employee” and not a terrorist attack or a hate crime in a city where nine black church members were killed by a white man two years ago.
“This was a tragic case of a disturbed individual, I think, with a history of some mental health challenges,” Tecklenburg said at a news conference.
Authorities did not release the names of the gunman or the employee he killed. The shooting was reported shortly after noon Thursday.
Peter Siegert, 73, and his son Peter Siegert IV, 45, said that just after several waitresses and kitchen workers walked out the door without saying a word, a man in an apron with a gun came out of the kitchen and locked the front door. “‘I am the new king of Charleston,’” the Siegerts quoted the man as saying.
The man told diners to get on the floor and move to the back of the restaurant. The Siegerts said they escaped out a back door and didn’t know how many people were left behind.