Video footage uploaded to Twitter by 16-year-old Farida Osman on Monday documents a heated exchange in which a lone customer, a man sporting a camo hoodie and black ball cap, shoves a teenager toward a wall before pulling out his firearm.
"Why are you f**king with my friends? What's up?" one teen can be heard saying. Within seconds, the scene turns into chaos as the group runs toward the dining hall after spotting the gun.
"He has a gun! He has a gun!" another teenager yells out.
— f💓 (@snatchingedgess) November 20, 2018
Osman told magazine Muslim Girl that the altercation took place as she and her friends were trying to pay for their meal using Apple Pay. Getting frustrated over his wait time, the man then proceeded to make offensive remarks, suggesting that the group was trying to use an EBT card to pay for their meal.
"Jihan [Abdullahi] heard the man say, ‘You're probably using EBT,' and she immediately turned to him and said ‘Just because I'm black, doesn't mean I use EBT,'" Osman told the publication. EBT, otherwise known as Electronic Benefit Transfer, is an electronic system that allows state welfare departments to issue funds under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
After the man's EBT comment, the situation escalated, and he proceeded to yell obscenities, Osman recalled. The firearm was pulled out just as Osman's other friends were called to the scene.
"Amin and his friends came over, and that's when… the man pulls out the gun," Osman said.
However, rather than urging the sole offending customer to leave, a McDonald's employee jumped into the mix to order the teens to leave the restaurant, even after being informed that the man had pulled a gun on them.
"I understand that, but I want everyone out of my store now," one employee yells out. "I don't give a f**k, get out of my store now! Now!"
This response from the employee, however, didn't go over well with some of the customers who were still trying to process their own orders.
"Hey! Hey! Don't send them out there when the dude just pulled a f**king gun on them," one man says. "You better call the f**king cops, is what you gotta do."
"You want to send them outside so they can get shot?" the customer added as the employee walks away from him.
Though Eden Prairie police officers were ultimately called to the scene, the gun-toting man had already left the restaurant.
Additional footage shows a second McDonald's employee telling the teenagers that while he doesn't blame the group for the altercation, there must have been a reason for the man to respond by showing off his gun. "I never said I'm blaming you, I'm saying he pulled out the gun for a reason. I didn't say why," the employee says.
— f💓 (@snatchingedgess) November 20, 2018
A separate video uploaded on Tuesday by Osman shows the unidentified customer standing away from the teens, telling them to not touch him and to "shut up." One of the teenagers can be heard saying, "Nobody touched you, you got in our face."
— f💓 (@snatchingedgess) November 20, 2018
The Eden Prairie Police Department issued a statement on Tuesday, indicating that they were called to the local McDonald's and were investigating the incident to "determine if a crime was committed." Although the Gopher State is technically an open-carry state, it does require a special permit to do so, according to Giffords Law Center.
Paul Ostergaard, the owner of the Eden Prairie McDonald's franchise, told Sputnik on Wednesday that the matter is being taken seriously and that it is being investigated. "Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our customers and employees," he said.
It's presently unclear if management has spoken to the employees on their handling of the situation.
