A man in New York City was arrested Saturday after he allegedly went on a rampage inside a McDonald’s restaurant, threatening customers while wielding an axe.
A video of the early Friday morning incident posted on Twitter by user @McgooShakes shows the man in an argument with customers at the fast food restaurant pushing them and then punching one of them. Then, the group of three start to punch him back, and eventually stop before there is a pause in the altercation.
The man then takes a small axe out of his bag, smashes a table, and approaches the man while holding the weapon. He then can be seen smashing a glass barrier with the axe, and slapping a patron sitting down at a table multiple times, until he falls to the ground.
Later, while speaking to the customers at that table, he uses the axe to smash the surface. He then leaves the restaurant on his bike.
In a statement to Newsweek on Saturday, the New York City Police Department said it identified the man as 31-year-old Michael Palacios, who was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, three counts of menacing, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Police said they responded to the incident just before 2:30 a.m.
“Upon arrival of officers, witnesses at the location reported that the suspect got into a physical dispute with three unknown males inside of the location,” a spokesperson for the NYPD wrote in an email.
The spokesperson added: “The suspect removed an ax from his backpack and menaced the unknown males. The suspect intentionally caused property damage to the establishment. The individual was taken into custody by responding officers. A search incident to a lawful arrest, an additional knife was recovered from his backpack. Victims did not report any injuries.”
Noam Galai
Other Dangerous Incidents at McDonald’s
Unfortunately, the fast food establishment isn’t a stranger when it comes to dangerous incidents.
In January, police said a woman in St. Louis County, Missouri, shot a McDonald’s employee after a dispute over a french fry discount. The woman confronted the employee after they went out for a smoke break and allegedly hit the employee in the head with a gun before firing the weapon.
Meanwhile, at a McDonald’s in Vermont in July, the restaurant needed to be evacuated when an employee allegedly threw live ammunition on the restaurant’s grill. The employee allegedly removed ammunition from a handgun and threw three live rounds onto the grill causing an explosion. No one was injured during the incident.
Newsweek reached out to McDonald’s for comment.
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