BUTTS COUNTY, Ga. — An irate customer who was asked to leave a Georgia Waffle House has died after authorities said he got in a fight with two other men late Thursday night.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, they were called to Butts County to assist in the investigation by the sheriff's office. Agents arrived after midnight on Friday morning at the Waffle House on Highway 36 West near Jackson, Georgia.
There, the investigation began into a situation escalated from a disturbance in the restaurant to a deadly shooting. Deputies said that there were three different 911 calls over several minutes to the location.
The first was regarding an irate customer and the second one involved a fight. The third was a result of shots fired.
Deputies said that upon arrival, they found 27-year-old Nicholas Phinazee Bryan of Milner with a gunshot wound. Based on a preliminary investigation, Bryan was using racial slurs toward two Flovilla men, 36-year-old Robert Lewis Henderson Jr. and 39-year-old Antonio DeMarty Evans. Bryan was soon asked to leave the premises by staff but Evans and Bryan ended up in a fight with the man.
At some point, Henderson Jr. fired a single round at Bryan, who was taken to Monroe County Hospital. He was pronounced dead around 3 a.m.
The GBI has taken over the investigation and is also responsible for an autopsy of the victim. The agency hasn't announced whether charges will be charged against either of the other two men. The agency typically releases its findings to a district attorney who decides whether to file charges.
While the GBI is usually brought in for shootings involving officers or deputies, some departments will also request them to help with homicide investigations due to their access to forensic resources.
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