Atlanta

Man shoots security guard before police shoot him to death inside popular Buckhead restaurant

ATLANTA — A deadly shooting inside Fogo De Chao in Buckhead left one man dead, a security guard injured and customers frantically trying to get to safety.

Video from inside the restaurant moments after the shooting shows police officers keeping customers back from the deadly scene.

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“Our officer did a great job to isolate the subject to the front of the business where no patrons were in harm’s way,” an APD spokesperson said.

Police said the incident happened just after 7 p.m. on Wednesday night.

APD said the officer who responded to an unruly customer call used a Taser stun gun on the man, who was a former employee of the restaurant, but it had no effect. The man then tried to run.

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Police said that was when the man got his own gun and shot a security guard.

The APD officer shot and killed the suspect near the front of the restaurant.

The man’s parents identified him as 22-year-old Nygil Cullins. They say he suffered from mental health issues.

They say 45 minutes after they called 911 for help, their son was dead.

“I would have rather for him to be in psychiatric hospital [than] in a body bag,” his mother Mya Cullins told Channel 2′s Darryn Moore.

His father, Quinten Cullins, says the system failed his son.

“He had a heart of gold,” Quinten Cullins said.

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Ronell McNeal’s wife was inside the restaurant on Piedmont Road for a graduation party when the shooting happened after 7 p.m.

“She called me pretty hysterical,” McNeal said.

He said their group tended to the security guard before first responders took him to a hospital. His current condition is unknown.

“They were trying to put towels on his chest before the EMT got to him to get him out,” McNeal said.

The GBI is handling the police shooting and no names have been released.

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