A white Jacksonville, Florida, woman was arrested Friday, Dec. 16, after pointing a gun at a Black motorist and two McDonald’s employees.
The woman, identified as 55-year-old Mary Ulman, began harassing 47-year-old Charles Daniels over a parking space at a local McDonald’s restaurant at lunchtime.
Daniels was attempting to park, but he noticed that his car was a little crooked. So, he backed up enough to adjust his vehicle. And this is allegedly what set the woman off.
In an interview with News4Jax, Daniels said the woman began honking her horn at him and yelling racial slurs from her vehicle after he pulled into a space next to her. Then, after parking, Daniels walked in front of Ulman’s car while trying desperately to ignore her verbal harassment.
“She was racial slurs this and that, but my grandfather didn’t raise us that way, so I overlooked it,” Daniels says.
However, his attempt to take the high road was ignored. Daniels told police that he noticed Ulman pointing a gun at him and saw a red dot from a laser on his shoulder.
“As I got ready to walk in, I saw a red beam on my shoulder,” Daniels recalls. “I looked and she had her gun pointed at me.”
Ulman then got out of her vehicle and continued to point her weapon. According to police, she also pointed the gun at two McDonald’s employees working the drive-through.
All Daniels could think about was his safety and the safety of the others around him.
“Am I going to be all right and everybody else? What about everybody else, when she started pointing through the drive-through window?” Daniels tells reporters.
Daniels was asked if he knew what set Ulman off or if the incident could have been avoided and he said no. “Look beyond the racial divide and pray,” he says.
News4Jax reported that Ulman was later arrested at a traffic light with the pistol on her person. Officers also drove her back to the restaurant so that witnesses could identify her. Now, she faces aggravated assault charges with intent to commit a felony.
