A 29-year-old McDonald's worker in Lodi, California, allegedly opened fire on a female colleague inside the restaurant Monday morning before responding officers shot and killed him, and police still have not disclosed a motive.
Lodi police officers rushed to the McDonald's on West Lodi Avenue at roughly 9:30 a.m. after dispatchers received a report of an armed suspect inside. When officers arrived, they heard gunfire coming from the restaurant, discovered a wounded employee, and moved toward the shots. They encountered the armed suspect and an officer-involved shooting followed, Fox Business reported.
The suspect, Jonhatan Anguiano, a 29-year-old Lodi resident and employee of the restaurant, was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers recovered a firearm from the location. The wounded woman, also a McDonald's employee whose name has not been released, was taken to a local hospital and listed in stable condition.
Anguiano entered the restaurant carrying a semi-automatic pistol, the New York Post reported. Surveillance footage showed him wearing a McDonald's employee uniform with a long black sleeve covering his right arm shortly before officers killed him.
At least one customer was inside the restaurant when the gunfire started. Eyewitness Cheryl Marie Steneck described the moment in blunt terms:
"I was in the drive-thru at the cashier window when the shots were fired. I heard 4 shots being fired inside. Scary times."
Police have not said whether any other employees or customers were present, or whether anyone else was hurt.
Cameron Bregman, a Lodi city councilmember who lives roughly a block from the McDonald's, told KCRA that the shooting rattled the small community. Bregman acknowledged that several conflicting accounts were already circulating around town and urged residents to wait for the official investigation.
"Number one, it's unacceptable. But number two, it's scary that crime hits so close to home."
"Lodi is better than this. And we should be better than this."
Bregman added that his role was to stay out of the way of law enforcement: "The best thing I can do is let the police do the work and let the police release the reports."
Because officers fired their weapons, the case triggered the San Joaquin County Officer Involved Critical Incident Protocol, a formal framework that brings multiple agencies into the review. The Lodi Police Department, the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office, and the California Department of Justice are all participating in the investigation.
Authorities said additional information would be released as it becomes available. So far, police have not disclosed Anguiano's motive, any prior disciplinary history, or what led up to the confrontation between the two employees.
By Tuesday, the restaurant remained shut. Traffic cones blocked the parking lot, and a cleaning company van sat outside the building. No word has come from McDonald's corporate.
The officers who responded did exactly what the public expects, they ran toward gunfire and stopped a threat. The questions that remain are the ones California's leaders never seem eager to answer: how a workplace dispute escalated to a shooting, and what, if anything, could have prevented it.
