A dispute over customers allegedly filling a water cup with soda ended with gunfire inside a West Palm Beach Taco Bell, according to a CBS 12 News report by Katie Bente, who said newly released video showed the moment police believe an employee fired a gun at customers inside the restaurant.
Bente reported that officers were called around noon on April 27 to the Taco Bell at Military Trail and 45th Street after reports of shots being fired inside the building. When CBS 12 returned to the restaurant the next day, Bente said a window near the entrance was still boarded up, damage that police say was caused by one of the bullets.
The employee, identified by investigators as 20-year-old D’Mari Jy’Quan Patterson, was arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, according to Bente’s report.
Two people were hurt, including one person who police said was grazed by a bullet and another who was injured during the scuffle.
An Argument Inside The Restaurant Turned Violent
According to Bente, the confrontation began when three women entered the Taco Bell and asked for a cup of water. Police said one of the women then filled the cup at the soda fountain, leading to a verbal argument with Patterson.
What might have remained a tense but ordinary fast-food dispute quickly escalated into something far more dangerous.
Bente reported that cellphone video taken by a witness showed Patterson yelling at the women as tempers rose. Investigators said the sound of a firearm being racked could be heard on the video shortly before a shot was fired inside the dining area.
In her live report, Bente described the footage as showing an employee appearing to come out from behind the counter with a gun, rack it, and then swing it during the altercation. Police said Patterson struck a woman before a shot was fired.
That detail is one of the most unsettling parts of the case because the dispute, according to police, began over a drink cup. It is hard to imagine a smaller retail conflict turning into a gunfire investigation, yet the report shows how quickly a routine disagreement can become dangerous when someone brings a weapon into it.
Police Say Shots Were Fired As Customers Tried To Leave
Bente reported that one woman fell to the floor after being shot, while another suffered a graze wound. A third woman ran out of the restaurant.
According to police, Patterson then followed the group outside and fired again as they tried to get away. Investigators said that round missed the woman but shattered a window near the entrance, which is why customers arriving at the restaurant the next day could still see visible damage.
Inside the Taco Bell, Bente reported, customers ran for safety as the situation unfolded. One witness later told police that he initially was not sure whether what he heard was gunfire, but after seeing gunpowder residue and hearing a second shot, he fled the restaurant.
That witness account gives a clearer sense of how confusing and frightening the moment must have been for people inside. Fast-food dining rooms are not places where people expect to make split-second decisions about whether to hide, run, or drop to the ground.
The three women drove themselves to JFK North Medical Center, according to Bente’s report. Police said two were treated for minor injuries and released, while the third was not injured.
Patterson’s Account Did Not Match What Police Found
After the shooting, Bente reported, Patterson called 911 and told dispatchers that a customer had jumped behind the counter. He admitted firing the gun and told officers he placed it in the management office before police arrived, according to the arrest affidavit.
Investigators said Patterson claimed he believed the women were armed.
Police, however, reported that no weapons were found. Bente also noted that surveillance video and witness statements did not support a self-defense claim, with investigators saying the women appeared to be trying to leave when additional shots were fired.
That is a key point in the case because it shifts the focus from the argument itself to what police believe happened after the confrontation began to break apart. If the women were trying to get away, as investigators said, the decision to follow and fire outside becomes even harder to square with a claim of immediate self-defense.
Bente reported that Patterson appeared before a judge within 24 hours of the shooting on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Jail records show he is being held pending court proceedings, and the case remains under review by the State Attorney’s Office.
Customers Returned As The Damage Remained
When Bente reported from outside the Taco Bell the following day, the restaurant had reopened, and people were still coming in for food even as the boarded-up window remained visible.
She said some customers she spoke with were not especially shocked that violence had reached a fast-food restaurant, saying they believed incidents like this can happen anywhere.
“I mean, it doesn’t surprise me, the world we live in today,” one customer told CBS 12 News.
Another customer told the station, “It’s not a problem — things happen, and we just take it as it is and go from there.”
Those reactions are striking in their own way. A shooting inside a restaurant over an alleged soda-cup dispute should feel shocking, but some customers seemed to treat it as another example of everyday public tension boiling over in a place where people are just trying to eat lunch.
That kind of resignation says something about how numb many people have become to public violence, especially when it happens in familiar places like gas stations, stores, restaurants, and parking lots.
The Water Cup Issue Is Real, But The Response Was Not
Bente also noted that the issue at the center of the original argument is a real problem for many restaurants. Some companies say customers taking free water cups and filling them with soda has added to operating costs, and in some cases, those costs have contributed to higher prices.
She reported that Taco Bell does not have a companywide policy for how locations handle free water cups, leaving it up to individual stores.
That context matters because it explains why employees may be trained or expected to confront the issue, but it also highlights the enormous gap between enforcing a store rule and turning a dispute into a shooting.
Restaurants can lose money from drink theft, and employees may feel frustrated when customers ignore policies, but none of that changes the basic reality that a disagreement over soda should never end with gunfire.
The report is also a reminder that frontline workers are often put in the middle of conflicts with customers, sometimes over small-dollar disputes that carry outsized emotional weight. Still, once a firearm enters the situation, the argument is no longer about a cup, a fountain drink, or store policy; it becomes a public safety emergency.
A Prior Violent Dispute Also Surfaced
Bente reported that records show this was not the first time Patterson had been accused of reacting violently during a heated argument.
In 2024, deputies said Patterson pulled a knife during a dispute at home, according to the report.
That prior allegation does not decide what happened at Taco Bell, but it adds another layer to the police account, especially as investigators review whether the use of force inside and outside the restaurant was justified.
The restaurant was temporarily shut down while police secured the scene, and Bente reported that the response caused traffic backups along Military Trail.
For now, the case moves through the courts, with Patterson facing serious felony charges and investigators continuing to examine the evidence.
What began, according to police, with three women asking for water cups and one of them filling a cup with soda has now become a criminal case involving gunfire, injuries, shattered glass, and a fast-food restaurant full of customers who suddenly had to run for safety.
Raised in a small Arizona town, Kevin grew up surrounded by rugged desert landscapes and a family of hunters. His background in competitive shooting and firearms training has made him an authority on self-defense and gun safety. A certified firearms instructor, Kevin teaches others how to properly handle and maintain their weapons, whether for hunting, home defense, or survival situations. His writing focuses on responsible gun ownership, marksmanship, and the role of firearms in personal preparedness.
