Police in Cartersville were searching Wednesday for the people who opened fire outside a Waffle House just after midnight Sunday, damaging two vehicles and sending workers and a late-night crowd of teenagers scrambling for cover.
The shooting drew attention because it happened outside a busy restaurant near a main roadway and appeared to involve a large group of young people gathered late at night. Cartersville police say the case is still in the evidence review stage. No injuries have been reported, but detectives are sorting through surveillance footage, witness statements and shell casings to determine who fought, who pulled guns and whether more than one shooter was involved.
According to police accounts and witness interviews, the crowd began building at the Waffle House on North Dixie Avenue late Saturday, with 30 to 50 people, many believed to be 16 to 20 years old, moving in and out of the restaurant. Workers Lulu and Justin Crutcher said the group had ordered food and, at first, did not seem disorderly inside. Justin Crutcher said he and his wife stepped outside for a break after meals were served, only to hear a burst of shots moments later. “Next thing I know: pow, pow, pow, pow, six of them rang out,” Crutcher said. He said he ducked behind a car and threw himself over his wife as the gunfire started. Police say most of the crowd had scattered by the time officers reached the restaurant, leaving detectives to rebuild the timeline from camera footage and damage at the scene.
Investigators said officers were sent to 300 N. Dixie Ave. just after midnight on March 15 after reports of shots fired. The fight that preceded the shooting appears to have started behind the restaurant about 30 minutes earlier. Police said witnesses described an exchange of gunfire involving a passing vehicle and someone in the Waffle House parking lot after a confrontation between two young men. One witness reported seeing shots fired from a vehicle traveling down the hill from Felton Place, then seeing a thin man in a black hoodie with red or white writing fire back toward fleeing vehicles. Capt. Greg Sparacio said witnesses told police there appeared to be multiple shooters. The Waffle House manager turned over security footage that showed a fight behind the building involving one person in a yellow hoodie and another in a black hoodie with a pink or white design. The video also showed several people leaving in a red Hyundai and a white sedan, then returning about 30 minutes later. Although the actual shots were not captured on camera, police said the crowd began running from the lot just after midnight, matching the reported time of the gunfire.
Police said two vehicles were damaged, one in the parking lot and one on nearby Joe Frank Harris Parkway. The first driver, in a maroon 2013 Acura RDX, told officers he was leaving a nearby McDonald’s and heading toward Georgia Highway 41 when he heard gunshots and saw a large group gathered at the Waffle House. Investigators reported seeing a path where a round slid across the roofline of the Acura, leaving a small dent. The driver told police he ran a red light because he feared he was being shot at. A second victim was inside the restaurant when the shots were fired and later discovered a bullet hole in the driver’s side mirror of a 2022 GMC Sierra. The round was said to have entered the front of the mirror and exited near the bottom. Both drivers told investigators they wanted to press charges. Workers at the restaurant said the driver of the passing vehicle appeared stunned when he realized his truck had been hit after he stopped by for food.
The setting of the shooting helps explain why detectives are treating the case as more than a brief parking lot dispute. The Waffle House sits on a stretch of North Dixie Avenue near Joe Frank Harris Parkway, a busy corridor where cars move in and out of nearby businesses late into the night. That matters because one of the struck vehicles was not parked at the restaurant at all. It was traveling nearby when the shots hit, widening the area affected by the gunfire beyond the original fight scene. The employees’ account also suggests how quickly the night changed. Lulu told television reporters the teens had seemed polite while ordering food, and Justin Crutcher said many looked no older than about 20. Then, in seconds, the scene shifted from a packed late-night restaurant to people diving for cover in a parking lot. Even without reported injuries, the damage to two vehicles underscored how close the encounter came to becoming a far more serious mass-casualty event.
Evidence recovery and suspect identification now appear to be the core tasks for detectives. Investigators said officers found two Hornady +P 9mm Luger shell casings in the parking lot in line with where the damaged vehicles were located. During the initial response, Sgt. A. Cooney and Officer A.T. Davis conducted a felony traffic stop on a vehicle leaving the area and detained two occupants for questioning. Police also reported that Officer Tavalez located a gold Chrysler with rear bumper damage at a residence on Fairview Circle that was considered suspicious in the investigation. As of Wednesday, however, police had not publicly announced arrests or charges in the case. Detectives were still reviewing surveillance from the Waffle House and nearby businesses, and police had not publicly said whether the shooters knew each other before the fight, how many guns were used or whether all of the people seen on video had been identified. Those unanswered questions are likely to shape whether investigators seek warrants and how prosecutors later describe the shooting.
The strongest public descriptions so far have come from the restaurant workers who were nearest the gunfire when it began. Justin Crutcher said the sound of repeated shots sent him and his wife to the ground almost instantly. Lulu recalled the reaction of the motorist whose vehicle was hit after leaving the restaurant. “He was like in shock,” she said, adding that he told workers he had simply come by to get pork chops. The couple said they were relieved no one was wounded, but they were still shaken by how many young people had been gathered outside when the shots were fired. Their account gives the investigation a human frame: employees serving a routine late-night crowd, a fight building behind the restaurant, and then a burst of gunfire that ended with damaged cars, scattered witnesses and detectives trying to match faces, clothing and vehicles seen on multiple cameras.
As of Wednesday, Cartersville police had not named suspects or announced arrests. The next likely milestone is a decision on whether surveillance footage, witness interviews and physical evidence are enough for detectives to seek warrants in Bartow County.
Author note: Last updated March 18, 2026.