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Security guard arrested after shooting at Mary Mac's customer

ATLANTA — Officers are investigating gunfire at one of metro Atlanta's best known restaurants.
 
Police say a customer was leaving the Mary Mac's Tea Room parking lot in northeast Atlanta, when the security guard on duty chased him and shot into that customer's car four times.
 
"I was actually here and I heard gunshots. I also heard a car speeding away," said Nick Natraj
 
Natraj told Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes he heard all the commotion Friday night, and at first, he thought the gunshots were fireworks.
 
"I never thought that would be possible here," Natraj said.
 
Police said a customer was coming out of the parking lot at 7:30 p.m. that night, when security guard Dexter Washington shot at his car four times.
 
Neighbor Courtney Escher didn't realize the guards next to her home have guns, and that they'd shoot at customers.
 
"If you want to be in the police academy, you go to the police academy. You don't sign up to be a security officer because it's not the same thing," Escher said.
 
Initially, Washington told police that the customer was exiting the parking lot the wrong way when he tried to get him to stop, the customer bumped him with his car.
 
Washington said he chased the car to a red light nearby, and stood in front of it. He told police the man hit him with the car again, so he fired several shots.
 
Surveillance cameras showed police a different version of what happened,
 
Police say the customer never touched the security guard with his car. The video actually shows the customer going around the guard at the traffic light, right before the shots were fired.
 
"I believe even for police you're not supposed to shoot someone unless you are being attacked yourself," Escher said.
 
The security guard is facing two counts of aggravated assault. At last check, Washington was being held without bond at the Fulton County Jail.