Police are investigating a white man who allegedly pulled a gun on a group of majority black, Somalian teens who were just trying to grab a bite to eat at a Minnesota McDonald’s earlier this week.
Farida Osman, 16, who recorded and uploaded the video that has since gone viral, believes that she and her friends were targeted because some of the young ladies were wearing hijabs, according to Buzzfeed.
“I think it’s because we were black and Muslim,” Farida said. “I’ve had people being racist towards me before, but I’ve never had a gun pulled on me until now.”
And apparently, not even management came to the teens’ assistance. In fact, a McDonald’s manager was also captured on video telling the teens to “get the f–k out of my store,” after they reported the gun.
@McDonalds is this what you stand for? We were just trying to order when this man said racist remarks, claimed to be touched (when really he pushed a kid as seen on video) pulled a gun out on kids and you still kick us out knowing we’re in danger? 1/2 pic.twitter.com/3vKXsxhuwH
— f💓 (@snatchingedgess) November 20, 2018
Eden Prairie, Minn. police released a statement noting that they were investigating the incident to determine if a crime was committed.
Meanwhile, the owner-operator of the McDonald’s also released a statement saying that they were working with officers.
“Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our customers and employees,” McDonald’s Paul Ostergaard said.
The whole incident apparently started over using Apple Pay to pay for food. One of the teens’ identified as Jihan Abdullahi tried to pay for her food using the service, but was unable to do so even after several attempts. Another teen with the group, Amal Mohammed tried to help out and use her Apple Pay but was also unable to complete the transaction. That was when the white man started to get agitated.
“He was being kind of aggressive,” Mohammed noted. “After that, the manager who was taking our order said, ‘If you guys can’t pay with Apple Pay, we’ll have to cancel it and move on to the next person,’ and we stepped back in line.”
But despite moving to the back of the line, the man wasn’t done complaining, remarking that the young ladies must have been using EBT to purchase the food items.
“Jihan said, ‘Just because I’m black does not mean I use EBT.’ Basically after that, he was trying to say, ‘You do use EBT,’ and Jihan was saying, ‘No I don’t,’ and telling him to stop being racist,” Osman explained.
The verbal exchange escalated up until the man pulled the gun.
The manager then came into the video, demanding that the teens leave the store. Someone pointed out that the man had a gun to which the manager, who is a woman, responds, “I don’t care, get the f–k out of my store.”
In another video, another worker is heard telling the group that the man “pulled out a gun for a reason,” while still trying to get them to leave the establishment.
After yelling you also add “if he pulled out a gun it’s for a reason”. There should be no reason that a man pulled out a gun on children just trying to order their food. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/fg1LByNBbL
— f💓 (@snatchingedgess) November 20, 2018
This was despite the fact that the man who pulled the weapon was still apparently standing outside.
“At the end of the day, it’s a group of black people against the managers,” Osman said. “That’s why I took the video, so if something happened, we could be taken seriously.”
“I think you should know that this isn’t unusual,” Mohammed added. “Not the gun situation — all these assumptions. I can say that many of my friends have experienced stuff like this. It happens to too many Somalis in Minnesota.”
