A 46-year-old attorney in Houston is dead after he attempted to calm down an angry McDonald’s customer who was screaming at the cashier for getting his order wrong.
Jeffrey Limmer, an associate at the Lewis Brisbois law firm in Houston, was shot and killed May 4 after bickering with a man ahead of him in line at a McDonald’s near Limmer’s home off Interstate 10 in Houston, according to police.
Houston police has since identified the suspect as 57-year-old Anthony Martin Landry who was charged with murder on Wednesday. He remains on the run.
Landry was demanding a refund when Limmer interrupted, took up for the cashier and began arguing with the stranger.
The situation escalated when the pair walked outside to settle the dispute in the parking lot, and Limmer allegedly pushed the man to the ground, according to detectives.
The assailant got up right away, walked briskly to his blue Ford pickup, grabbed a handgun from inside and shot Limmer before fleeing the scene, police said.
By the time police arrived, Limmer was was already dead.
Nearly a week later, the shooter remains at large, though his identity is now known.
Relatives described Limmer as non-confrontational, and said it was likely that he was just trying defuse the man’s temper before the incident turned deadly.
“Knowing Jeff, he’s the one who always says, ‘Calm down. It’s not that big of a deal,’ and divert the situation,” said Limmer’s sister, Jennifer Thomas, who spoke to ABC 13. “He’s always wanted to fight for the little guy and do the right thing.”
Limmer graduated from the University of Texas and received his law degree from South Texas College of Law.
Thomas revealed that Limmer lived close to the McDonald’s and regularly dined there.
Thomas described Limmer as the type of person who would intervene in an abusive situation to protect those who couldn’t defend themselves.
“A good Samaritan who is trying to do the right thing and not letting those employees at McDonald’s go through that,” she said.
The deadly shooting recalls another fast-food incident in early April where a white customer in an Ohio Burger King drive-thru pulled a gun on a Black cashier who tried to give him a promotional discount on his food. No one was killed in that incident, and the suspect was never arrested.
