A four-year-old boy pulled a gun and fired at police while they attempted to handcuff a 27-year-old man outside a Utah McDonald’s. The boy identified the man as his father and explained that he’d fired the gun because he “wanted his daddy back.”
Police have released body-cam footage from the incident, which took place on February 21, 2022, and the video clearly shows what happened as they arrested Sadaat Johnson for allegedly brandishing a gun at the fast food establishment’s drive-thru workers when they made a mistake on his order.
WATCH:
While police were struggling to arrest a 27-year-old man for allegedly pulling a gun on McDonald’s workers, a 4-year-old boy in his car fired a gun, causing officers to draw their weapons. The man faces multiple charges, including child abuse.
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Employees at the Middle, Utah, McDonald’s reportedly called police after Johnson appeared to threaten workers with a gun when his order was incorrect. They asked Johnson — who had two children in the car, aged three and four — to pull around to the front of the restaurant.
Upon arrival, police ordered Johnson several times to roll down the window or unlock the door but he did not initially comply. Once he did unlock the driver’s side door, he was told to exit the vehicle — and when he didn’t do so voluntarily, they pulled him from the car.
In the body-cam footage, just seconds later, one officer could be heard yelling, “gun!” just before shots were fired. Officers then approached the car, guns drawn, and instructed the person inside the car to drop the gun — at which point one of them realized that the person holding the gun was a small child and that there was another small child in the vehicle.
“Kids! Kids! Kids!” he could be heard shouting in the footage.
The child reportedly told police that he had picked up the gun and fired because he saw them taking his father away and he “wanted his daddy back.”
Johnson claimed that he had “blacked out” after arguing with the McDonald’s clerk and did not remember pulling out his gun — despite the fact that court records stated it was clearly visible in surveillance video. He also claimed that the four-year-old had gotten ahold of a gun in the past. He was later charged with “child abuse, aggravated assault, and interference with an arresting officer,” according to Utah ABC affiliate ABC4.