--- description: A former firefighter shot and killed a waitress in a Mississippi Waffle House after he was asked not to smoke, officials said. title: Waffle House Waitress Slain After Asking Patron Not to Smoke image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt442f48b991577b7d/698873070b72e33fea6e7058/waffle-house-shooting-biloxi-waitress.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Mississippi Waffle House Waitress Slain After Asking Patron Not to Smoke by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2015 1:41 PM CUT  A police vehicle sits outside the Waffle House on U.S. 90 in Biloxi, Miss., after a fatal shooting on Nov. 27, 2015. A police vehicle sits outside the Waffle House on U.S. 90 in Biloxi, Miss., after a fatal shooting on Nov. 27, 2015.Jeff Clark—The Biloxi Sun Herald/TNS/Landov by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2015 1:41 PM CUT 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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4129076/mississippi-waffle-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4129076/mississippi-waffle-house/"},"headline":"Mississippi Waffle House Waitress Slain After Asking Patron Not to Smoke","datePublished":"2015-11-30T13:41:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:57:16.132Z","description":"Police arrested Johnny Max Mount as he walked out of the restaurant","url":"https://time.com/4129076/mississippi-waffle-house/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt442f48b991577b7d/698873070b72e33fea6e7058/waffle-house-shooting-biloxi-waitress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt442f48b991577b7d/698873070b72e33fea6e7058/waffle-house-shooting-biloxi-waitress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"MISSISSIPPI WAFFLE HOUSE SERVER KILLED AFTER ASKING CUSTOMER TO PUT OUT CIGARETTE","caption":"A police vehicle sits outside the Waffle House on U.S. 90 in Biloxi, Miss., after a fatal shooting on Nov. 27, 2015.","creditText":"Jeff Clark—The Biloxi Sun Herald/TNS/Landov","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4129076/mississippi-waffle-house/","name":"Mississippi Waffle House Waitress Slain After Asking Patron Not to Smoke"}}]}] ```