Therese Apel

The Clarion-Ledger

Witnesses say a man allegedly used what appeared to be an assault rifle and fired shots at a Grenada Huddle House Friday evening while several families were eating inside.

Sharron Belew and her husband had their grandchildren inside the restaurant when a young man sitting by a window told everyone to take cover.

"The kid said, 'Hit the floor, this guy has an AK-47,' and we all hit the floor and got the kids underneath the table," Belew said. "Thank goodness for that kid, because we were getting under the table when we heard the first shot."

From there, the Huddle House employees escorted the restaurant patrons to the bathroom, where the walls are concrete.

The incident happened sometime around 7 p.m.

Grenada police were on the scene quickly and as they were talking to witnesses, the alleged shooter drove back through the parking lot, Belew said.

"Someone recognized him and they arrested him," she said. "I was glad he didn’t resist, because that would have been equally terrifying."

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Belew said she's not sure if the man shot up in the air or into the restaurant, but that it was scary because there were several families with children in the establishment.

"It was terrifying because of the small children in there, and we weren’t the only ones with small children in there," Belew said. "The fear those kids had when they were under the table, they were scared to death, and we were afraid he was going to come in. All the workers there were terrified too."

The Clarion-Ledger has reached out to Grenada Police Department and Huddle House's corporate office by phone and email for more information. We will bring you more details as they are available.

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.