A trip for fast food turned frightening for one Mobile customer after his vehicle was struck by gunfire during an argument between two other men in a restaurant parking lot, according to the Mobile Police Department.
Officers responded around 7 p.m. one Wednesday night to a report of gunshots at the McDonald’s located near Dauphin Street and Interstate 65, said police spokesman Terence Perkins. Investigators determined that two men had gotten into an argument next to a customer’s parked car. During the dispute, one of the men fired a handgun, and the shot struck the vehicle the customer was sitting inside.
The customer was not injured despite the gunfire striking his car, police said. Investigators did not immediately identify either of the men involved in the argument or announce any arrests.
The McDonald’s sits along one of Mobile’s busiest retail and dining corridors near the interstate interchange, an area that draws heavy traffic throughout the day and evening from commuters, shoppers and travelers passing through the city. Parking lot disputes escalating into gunfire, while relatively rare, put uninvolved bystanders at risk in exactly the kind of everyday setting where people expect to feel safe.
Mobile police did not release details about what sparked the argument between the two men or whether the dispute was linked to any prior conflict. The department’s ongoing investigation is treating the shooting as an isolated incident between the two men rather than a random act targeting the restaurant or its customers.
Officers canvassed the area for surveillance footage from nearby businesses that might help identify the shooter, a standard step in commercial-area shootings where multiple cameras often cover overlapping fields of view. The restaurant itself, along with several neighboring businesses, typically maintains exterior security cameras that could assist investigators in piecing together the sequence of events.
The Mobile Police Department is asking anyone who witnessed the confrontation or has information about the people involved to come forward. Tips can be phoned in directly to Mobile Police at (251) 208-7211, submitted anonymously through Mobile CrimeStoppers at (251) 208-7000, or sent by text to the Mobile Police Intel line at CRIMES (274637) using the keyword CRIME411.
No further updates on the investigation had been released as of the initial report, and police continued to urge caution among patrons frequenting businesses along the busy Dauphin Street corridor.