Waffle House good Samaritan shot to death while paying for meals, handing out $20 bills

Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Man arrested in shooting of good Samaritan
Man arrested in deadly shooting of good Samaritan.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A good Samaritan was shot to death while handing out money and paying for strangers' meals at a Waffle House, according to ABC News.

Police arrested Ezekiel Hicks, 25, on murder charges stemming from the death of Craig Brewer, 41.

Investigators said Brewer was at a Waffle House in Gainesville, Florida, paying for meals and handing out $20 bills.

Surveillance video from the restaurant captured an argument between Brewer and a female acquaintance of Hicks.

Witnesses told the Alachua County Sheriff's Office that the woman was mad at Brewer because he had paid for other people's meals but not hers.

Investigators said that is when Hicks left the restaurant and got a 9mm Glock pistol out of his car. He then came back to the restaurant and shot Brewer in the head.

Hicks was arrested in the parking lot, and investigators said he admitted to pulling the trigger.

"The why of this case will persist for days and weeks as we conduct follow-up interviews, but the how is incredibly straightforward," Alachua County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Brett Rhodenizer said. "Out of all the investigations that I've seen, very seldom do you have an incident from start to finish on video that ends in a murder. It was literally in the single digits worth of minutes from the time we received the initial call from the Waffle House, saying, 'Hey, there's too many people here, we'd like a hand clearing the restaurant,' to deputies are on the scene, told about a shooting, and we have a suspect in custody and a firearm recovered."