LEWISTON — A witness to a shooting at the McDonald’s at 1035 Lisbon St. said Thursday he saw three men struggling over a gun that shot out the rear tire of his mother’s minivan as she waited in the drive-through line. The shooting occurred at about 3:30 p.m.
The man who pulled the gun from his back pocket fled the scene on foot in the direction of downtown, the witness said.
The Sun Journal is not identifying the teenage witness or his mother at the request of their family.
Police said no injuries were reported. By late Thursday, police had reported no charges related to the incident.
Two other men and a woman were originally taken into custody after the silver Saab with New York license plates in which they were riding was stopped by police a short time later on Lincoln Street near South Avenue.
Police ordered the driver and two passengers to get out of the car and lie on the pavement. They were handcuffed and police seized a handgun from the floor area of the front passenger’s seat. The handgun was placed in a paper evidence bag.
The teenage witness told the Sun Journal he watched the incident from his own vehicle, which was in line ahead of his mother’s minivan, as one of the three men arguing outside the main entrance to the restaurant reached to pull a handgun from his back pocket.
“As soon as he was about to pull out the gun, I saw it and I pulled out (of the drive-through line) and I turned around and I looked,” the teenager said. “As soon as he was getting ready to shoot it, the (other) guy took his hand and pulled it down and he shot it. He shot my mom’s tire.”
The mother, whose back driver’s side tire was flattened, told the Sun Journal she saw the men arguing but didn’t see the struggle. She only heard the pop of her tire as it was shot.
Her son had pulled out of the drive-through line ahead of her and called her on her cellphone to warn her to leave the scene, she said. Her young daughter also was in her van.
“As soon as I saw him pull out the gun, that’s when I got nervous and I pulled out,” the teenager said, “because I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, especially my mom.”
Before she could follow her son, the gun discharged, she said.
She said she had heard the men arguing outside the restaurant entrance. One of the men was asking another why he was getting upset and why he had a gun, she said.
“I was trying to not really pay attention,” she said.
The other two men tackled the man with the gun and removed any remaining rounds from the gun while wrestling on the ground, the teenager said. After the man who pulled the gun fled on foot, the other two men left in a car driven by a woman.
Before they did, the witness’ mother asked them “what was going on and they said they didn’t know,” she told the Sun Journal.
“I didn’t even think it was a gun, necessarily,” when she heard her tire blow, she said. When she learned what had happened, the woman thought: “Wrong place, wrong time,” she said.
Police responded within a couple of minutes, she said.
“We take the safety of our employees and customers very seriously. While we are thankful that no one was injured, the incident outside the restaurant is now a police matter,” McDonald’s franchise owner Steve Goble said Thursday in a prepared statement.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
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