News

Ex-employee sentenced to prison for murder at McDonald's

Sam Antwan Ivey

By Lightning Reports, Published: January 28, 2025

A 37-year-old former employee of McDonald's was sentenced to up to 26 years in prison on Monday after pleading guilty in Henderson County Superior Court to second-degree murder, possession of a weapon of mass destruction, possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a weapon on educational property, District Attorney R. Andrew Murray announced.

According to the investigation and court trial records, Sam Antwan Ivey was working at the McDonalds on Four Seasons Boulevard on Oct. 9, 2023, when he confronted Jaclyn Reed after she attempted to regain entry into the restaurant after being removed. Reed had been previously removed from the premises for being involved in an altercation with another customer.

Reed, 30, of Johnson City, Tennessee, was unarmed and of little threat when she attempted to regain entry, the D.A. said. Ivey was armed with a semi-automatic pistol that he was carrying unlawfully due to his status as a convicted felon. Ivey shot Reed one time in the upper chest, killing her almost instantly.

After the shooting, Ivey fled and was later located in the car pickup line of his child’s school, Edneyville Elementary, where he was apprehended by the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office. In his possession was the semi-automatic pistol used in the murder of Reed, as well as a pistol that was altered to be fully automatic. Superior Court Judge William Stetzer sentenced the defendant to a minimum term of 21 years and a maximum term of 26 years five months in state prison.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Van Buren handled the prosecution and sentencing of these crimes. Murray thanked the Hendersonville Police Department’s lead detective, Lt. Alan Bonanno, as well as the Hendersonville Police Department, for their professional and thorough investigation of this case. He also thanked the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office for its assistance in apprehending Ivey. Deputy Shawn Metcalf was named Officer of the Year by the N.C. Association of School Resource Officers last July and also received a Meritorious Conduct award from the sheriff’s office for his quick-thinking arrest of Ivey. After hearing police radio traffic, the school officer recognized the suspect as the dad of a student, made sure the school was locked down and made the arrest without incident.

“I realized I knew that suspect and that car,” Metcalf told the Lightning in an interview in September 2024.