Atlanta Subway employee shot dead by customer in argument over mayo, police say

ATLANTA - An argument over mayonnaise at a Downtown Atlanta Subway ended with one worker dead and another in the hospital.

Police say the shooting happened around 6:30 p.m. at a Subway located at a gas station on Northside Drive Southwest.

The owner of the Subway says the reason for the shooting was something small: a customer was mad about mayo.

"Believe it or not, it was about too much mayonnaise on his sandwich," owner Willie Glenn said.

In this argument, police say the customer shot two Subway employees, leaving a 26-year-old woman dead and another 24-year-old woman rushed to surgery in critical condition. Atlanta police have arrested a 36-year-old man.

"He decided to escalate the situation and from there — that's when all hell broke loose," Glenn said.

Glenn said the injured employee's 5-year-old son was inside the store when the shooting started.

Glenn said the manager on duty returned fire at the suspect, but wasn't able to hit him.

"I don't know what the world is coming to especially with our youth. They seem to be so hot headed," he said. "Everybody wants to carry a gun. Everybody wants to scare somebody wit ha gun. It's scary out here."

Crime scene tape surrounded the Subway as police investigated. The gunfire also shattered a window at the front of the store.

We’ve learned from one of the store owners the critically wounded employee is the sister of the woman killed.

All of this happened in front of the woman’s 5-year-old son.

"We don’t need people like that in society. If he’s willing to kill someone over mayonnaise then what else would he do," Glenn said.

There were plenty of emotions at the restaurant on Northside Drive on Monday afternoon. Gerald Rose is the President of New Order National Human Rights Organization.

"That could have been my grandkid that lost their life over mayo and I don’t understand," Rose said.

Glenn said the two women in their 20s were sisters who had just started working at the store three weeks ago. 

"It escalated in the store. He walked out the store and started shooting in the store and that’s when he hit one of my employees," Willie Glenn said.

This all taking place in front of the worker’s five-year-old son, who watched his mom get shot. The child was back at the scene with a relative Monday as his mom is in critical condition at a local hospital.

"It was very senseless. Yes, too much mayo on a sandwich but an individual with a gun who thought that was the course of action to resolve about a sandwich," Atlanta Police Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said.

Atlanta police have praised a witness who gave them crucial information that lead to the arrest.

Police have not released the name of the man arrested or the name of the woman killed.

If you have any information that could help investigators with the case, call the Atlanta Police Department.