WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A fight led to gunshots in the parking lot of Mountain Fried Chicken, in Winston-Salem, and ended with a customer inside the business being shot.
Police say 73-year-old Bill Wood was hit by a bullet while he was dining inside.
Wood was taken to Wake Forest Baptist Medical center with non-life threatening injuries.
We sat down with Bill to talk about what he calls a near-death experience. He said he was out to eat with his wife Sunday night when it happened.
"We were almost finished with the meal and suddenly gunfire erupted and it sounded like a Bonnie and Clyde situation it was unbelievable," Bill said. He was shot in the arm, he said it was an 'outright hit.'
The glass was flying and everything else and I didn’t really realize how to cope with it until I felt blood running down my arm," Bill said, adding it felt like a 'sting.'
"I said 'oh my goodness, one of these bullets hit me,' and you just try to figure out what’s next and next thing I know there are people screaming in there and dropping to the floor {to duck for cover}."
Wood said about 12-15 shots were fired, and approximately 20 people were inside the restaurant when it happened. He was amazingly the only one directly hit with a bullet.
Doctors say his wound will heal, and the bullet didn't hit anything major. But mentally he's still struggling.
"I’m up in age and I’ve seen a lot but I’ve never experienced anything like this," Wood said. "My hands are still shaking and I cant, I cant control it really."
A passing car was also struck by the gunfire between the two suspects in the parking lot. The driver Lea Wynn Ingram was not injured.
"It was scary, it was shocking real shocking," Mountain Fried Chicken Assistant Manager Mario Moses said.
Moses said the restaurant is open and repairs are currently underway. You can still see the bullet holes in some of the windows, but they'll be boarded up for the next couple of days.
"We just want tell all our customers, especially the ones that were here, that we apologize for that because we’re all about our customers and safety," Moses said. "It was a situation that we couldn’t really control but we tried to stop it as fast as possible and get law enforcement involved as soon as we could."
Moses said there were no children inside at the time of the shooting. He added that the store is brainstorming ways to up their safety.
"We’re just trying to fix the glass, and just try to find ways to make our customers safer to prevent something like this from ever happening again."
Wood is a regular at Mountain Fried Chicken. He doesn't want this shooting to deter anyone from eating there, calling this a random act of violence.
"I would recommend anyone going back there to eat because it's just a random thing that happened it could happen everywhere."
The suspects drove off in separate cars, but police were able to track them down.
19-year-old Jason Zamora is charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Intent to kill, Inflicting Serious Injury, Discharging Firearm into Occupied Vehicle, Resisting a Public Officer. He's being held without bond.
16-year-old Samuel Marin Carbajal is charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Intent to kill, Inflicting Serious Injury, Discharging Firearm into an Occupied Building Causing Serious Injury, Discharging a Firearm into an Occupied Building.
His bond is set at $100,000 dollars. Police haven't released his mugshot.
Winston-Salem Police say this shooting could be gang-related.
The departments gang unit is in charge of the investigation.
Anyone with any information regarding this incident or similar crimes is asked to call the Winston-Salem Police Department at 336-773-7700 or Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800.