A worker at a south Charlotte Steak ‘n Shake restaurant was killed during an attempted robbery Tuesday morning, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said. Pineville Police were called to the Steak ‘n Shake restaurant in the 9700 block of South Boulevard near the Carolina Pavilion shopping center near I-485 around 11:30 a.m.
The shooting happened during lunchtime with multiple customers inside the restaurant, Putney said. There is a movie theater nearby as well as several retail shops like Target, Nordstrom Rack, and Sears Outlet.
“It was an armed robbery, there was a person with a gun, we received multiple calls,” Putney said. “There were quite a few witnesses, the actual number I don’t know, but I’d say it exceeded five.” Putney said the employee was shot and killed inside the store.
Family of the victim said he died defending his coworkers, and identified him as Darnell Harris. In a statement, the family said they weren’t shocked to hear he defended others in that situation, “because that’s just who he was. He was a great man and a protector and we will miss him.”
A second individual, 53-year-old Robert Carpenter, was also hurt inside the store, and has life-threatening injuries, CMPD reports. Detectives were working to determine the source of the gunfire that hurt the second victim. Putney said the suspect was shot by a Pineville Police officer and taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The employee was pronounced dead at the scene. Putney said no officers were hurt and detectives were not looking for any more suspects… WCNC Charlotte