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TikTok/@Guate189 Brooke Sjoberg

Viral TikTok shows McDonald’s workers hiding from active shooter who barricaded himself in restaurant

'That McDonald's is one minute from me.'

 

Brooke Sjoberg

IRL

Posted on Dec 7, 2021   Updated on Dec 7, 2021, 10:14 am CST

A video of McDonald’s employees hiding from an active shooter has gained 1.8 million views on TikTok. The video is alleged to be of an incident that happened in October in Fort Meyers, Florida.

In the video, three McDonald’s employees hid in the kitchen from an active shooter until police arrived and helped them to evacuate safely. As police enter the building, someone can be heard shouting, “He’s in the bathroom,” followed by a police officer telling the gunman to raise his arms and walk out.

It’s captioned “Tiroteo en McDonald’s” which is slang in Spanish for shoot-out.

According to WFLA, the suspect was peacefully apprehended after barricading himself in the McDonald’s. The TikTok shows the staffers, Speaking in Spanish, and huddled in the McDonald’s kitchen. They are able huddle together and are led out of the restaurant amid the chaos.

There was some confusion in the comment section of the video regarding how recent the event is, but an overwhelming number of commenters, including the poster of the video, claimed that the incident in the video happened in Florida, with some saying that this happened near their homes and that they recognize the area in the video.

“Nope it’s my hometown of Fort Myers Florida,” one commenter wrote. “That McDonald’s is one minute from me.”

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However, some commenters made suggestions for causes of the situation that are less reality-based, and more in the realm of jokes made in poor taste.

“For everybody who don’t understand Spanish, the guy that was shooting was mad because his fries ain’t been crispy and the workers wouldn’t give (them a) new one,” one commenter wrote.

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Following the arrest of the man who barricaded himself inside the McDonald’s, the Lee County Sheriff’s Department provided an update on the situation via Facebook Live, stating that the shooter had been communicating with the Sheriff’s Department via phone from inside the restaurant, and that when his phone had died, another Deputy had given him his own phone.

The Daily Dot has reached out to McDonald’s and @guate189 via TikTok DM regarding the video.


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*First Published: Dec 7, 2021, 8:52 am CST