On April 16, 1994, three employees were shot and killed and a fourth employee was seriously injured at a

Popeyes Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., also known as Popeyes and formerly named Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits, is an American multinational chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants that was formed in 1972 ...

restaurant in

Gadsden, Alabama Gadsden is a city in and the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is located on the Coosa River about northeast of Birmingham and southwest of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolit ...

. The perpetrators, Robert Bryant Melson (June 5, 1971 – June 8, 2017) and Cuhuatemoc Hinricky Peraita (born May 19, 1976), robbed the restaurant of over $2,100, led the four employees into a freezer, and then shot all four of them. Melson was sentenced to death for the crime and Peraita received a life sentence; however, he was later sentenced to death for killing another inmate in prison. Melson was executed in 2017 and Peraita remains on death row.

Shooting

On the night of April 15, 1994, Melson and Peraita entered a Popeyes restaurant in east Gadsden through the back door of the building after employee Darrell K. Collier unlocked it to allow fellow employees Nathaniel Baker and Bryant Archer to take out the trash. Upon entry, Melson and Peraita ordered Archer, Baker, Collier, and another employee, Tamika Collins, into the restaurant's office and demanded that they empty the safe. They complied, after which Melson ordered the group to get inside the restaurant's freezer. Shortly after locking them in the freezer, Melson unlocked the door and opened fire. Baker, Collier, and Collins all died of their wounds before paramedics arrived. Archer was shot four times, but he survived and was able to crawl to the restaurant's office to call 911. The killings happened shortly after midnight in the early hours of April 16.

Legal proceedings

Melson was convicted of his role in the crime, was sentenced to death on May 17, 1996, and placed on death row under

Alabama Department of Corrections The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) is the agency responsible for incarceration of convicted felons in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is headquartered in the Alabama Criminal Justice Center in Montgomery. Alabama has rela ...

ID 0000Z601. Peraita was sentenced to life without parole. He killed a fellow inmate on December 11, 1999, and was given a death sentence in October 2001. Melson had two execution dates set in 2010, both of which were stayed. On April 5, 2017, Melson had an execution date set for June 8, 2017. He received a temporary stay from an appellate court on June 2, but the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

vacated the stay on June 6 without comment. At 5:45 p.m. on the night of the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a temporary stay so Justice

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 19 ...

could review Melson's appeals. The stay was later lifted and the execution began at 9:55 p.m. Melson was pronounced dead at 10:27 p.m.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Popeyes shooting, 1994 1994 in Alabama 1994 mass shootings in the United States 1994 murders in the United States April 1994 crimes in the United States Crimes in Alabama Mass shootings in Alabama Mass shootings in the United States Robberies in the United States

Shooting

Legal proceedings

See also

References