![MISSISSIPPI WAFFLE HOUSE SERVER KILLED AFTER ASKING CUSTOMER TO PUT OUT CIGARETTE A police vehicle sits outside the Waffle House on U.S. 90 in Biloxi, Miss., after a fatal shooting on Nov. 27, 2015.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/waffle-house-shooting-biloxi-waitress.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
By Sam Frizell
A former firefighter shot and killed a waitress in a Mississippi Waffle House after he was asked not to smoke in the restaurant, officials said.
Local police said Johnny Max Mount, 45, shot the 52-year-old longtime waitress Julia Brightwell with a 9mm handgun around 1 a.m. on Friday morning at the Waffle House where she had been working for eight years, the Sun Herald reports.
The murder in Biloxi, Mississippi, shook locals who knew Brightwell as a kindly presence in the restaurant. Police arrested Mount as he was walking out of the restaurant and charged him with first-degree murder.
Mount was a Biloxi firefighter for 10 years before suffering a traumatic brain injury in a 2002 traffic accident.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
- How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador
- What if Ultra-Processed Foods Aren’t as Bad as You Think?
- How Ukraine Beat Russia in the Battle of the Black Sea
- Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
- How Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Americans’ Health
- What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
- The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024
Contact us at letters@time.com