News

Armed McDonald's employee charged with murder in shooting; victim identified

Sam Antwan Ivy

By Lightning Reports, Published: October 9, 2023

The strange sequence of events that led to a deadly shooting at a McDonald’s Monday originated when two women had an argument at a nearby bus stop and one fled into the restaurant to get away, the city said in a news release.

Hendersonville police detectives began investigating the shooting as a homicide after officers responded at 10:54 a.m. to the call at 1909 Four Seasons Boulevard.

In the course of their investigation, detectives learned that the victim — later identified as Jacklyn Marie Reed, 30, of Johnson City, Tennessee — and the other woman had gotten in a confrontation at the bus stop. The other woman retreated into the restaurant to separate herself from Reed, who followed her into the restaurant.

After a McDonald’s manager separated the women, Reed left, only to return shortly afterwards, at which time she was met by the manager and a male employee. During the disturbance, Reed reached out and touched the McDonald’s employee, a convicted felon named Sam Antwan Ivey. Ivey pulled out a concealed handgun and shot Reed, police said, before fleeing in his vehicle. Reed, who received a single gunshot wound, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Just before 5 p.m. the city announced that police had charged Ivey with second-degree murder in connection with the shooting. Ivey, 35, was jailed without bond Monday night. He also faces a charge of possession of firearm by a felon, jail records show.

A school resource officer on duty at Edneyville Elementary School who was aware of the incident at McDonald’s recognized that Ivy had a child who attended the school. When the suspect arrived at the school, he was quickly apprehended by the deputy in the school parking lot. The school immediately went into “secure holding” according to Standard Response Protocol. The suspect was taken into custody without incident.

The Sheriff’s Office issued an alert at noon Monday about an incident that resulted in “an abundance of law enforcement units” converging at the school— apparently the deputy’s arrest of the shooting suspect. Forty-nine minutes later, the sheriff’s office reported the issue had been resolved and that the school was back to regular operations.

The Hendersonville Police Department thanked the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office for its help apprehending the suspect.

Gun possession ‘in direct violation’ of company rules

U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, who owns the McDonald’s where a fatal shooting took place on Monday, issued a statement expressing sympathy for the victim’s family and declaring that the alleged shooter “was in direct violation of our organization’s rules” prohibiting firearms on company property.

“Our entire restaurant team remains in shock after today’s tragic events, and our hearts go out to the victim’s family during this difficult time,” Edwards and his wife, Teresa, an executive with the company, said in a statement. “We are concentrating on ensuring our people receive the support they need, and are making crisis counselors available to all employees. We continue to fully cooperate with law enforcement in their investigation and encourage the community to direct any questions to the Hendersonville Police Department.”

“The employee in question was in direct violation of our organization’s rules of conduct policy — one that he had acknowledged and signed — which prohibits firearms on company property,” Edwards added. “All employees go through conflict-management training as part of their onboarding, and we are looking at expanding that training even further in light of this tragedy.”