The suspect arrested after the shooting death of a Subway restaurant employee had been charged with assaulting his child’s mother more than a year earlier but was out on bond at the time of the incident, court records show.
Conditions of his bond specified he was not allowed to possess any weapons, according to court documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Melvin Williams, 36, of Atlanta, was taken into custody Sunday night, hours after the fatal shooting near downtown, the AJC previously reported. Police say a customer became enraged at two Subway employees over the amount of mayonnaise on his sandwich before Brittany Macon, 26, was shot to death. Another employee, 24, was shot and injured, police said.
Williams was booked into the Fulton County Jail on Monday, where he remains without bond, jail records show. He is charged with murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
According to online court records, Williams was out of jail on bond after being arrested in March 2021. In that case, Williams is facing charges of aggravated assault and third-degree cruelty to children.
The warrant for his arrest in the earlier case accuses Williams of choking the mother of his son while the victim held the child in her arms. The attack caused the woman to drop the child, leaving him with a bruise on his face, the warrant said.
Williams was released March 23 on $10,000 bond after spending 10 days in jail.
According to Williams’ bond order, he was not allowed to possess any weapons.
The arrest on assault charges in 2021 was not Williams’ first time behind bars. In January 2013, he was arrested on multiple charges and eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and first-degree burglary, Fulton court records show. He was sentenced to one year in prison followed by four years on probation.
Williams finished his sentence and was discharged under the first offender act in 2019, according to court documents. His status as a first offender effectively erased his arrest record until he was arrested again in 2021.
“What you are seeing behind me is the result of a tragedy,” Schierbaum told reporters from outside the restaurant. “A senseless tragedy that we’ve seen numerous times throughout the year where an argument leads to gunfire, and now we have someone dead.”
Willie Glenn, who co-owns the Subway location, said Macon and her injured colleague were model employees.
“It breaks my heart to know that someone has the audacity to point a weapon and shoot someone for as little as too much mayonnaise on a sandwich,” Glenn told Channel 2 Action News.
A frustrated Schierbaum said Sunday that arguments are the leading cause of the homicides his department has investigated in 2022.
MORE: In 2021, Atlanta’s killings surged for a second straight year
“We can take down drug operations that breed violent crime, we can dismantle gang organizations that breed violent crime, we can stop robbery crews that breed violent crime,” he said. “We cannot stop someone who is mad because there is too much mayonnaise on their sandwich.”
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