Man shot to death while robbing a Pizza Hut

A man known as Michael Grace Jr. had been fired from a series of jobs. He had a 4-year-old child and a pregnant girlfriend. He was not in a position to take care of anyone, even himself.

 

Her mother told The Washing Post that she didn’t know what her son. “He had lost everything. He lost his Pizza Hut job. He lost his primary job. And because he lost his jobs, he lost his car also,”

According to his mother, she had a conversation with Michael Grace and the mother advised him to get himself together and get back on his grind

Grace and two men went to the west Charlotte Pizza Hut where he used to work, armed with a gun and waited until the business was closed, then burst into the restaurant. They were in the process of robbing the business when one of the employees fired his own personal handgun at one of the robbery suspects, striking him,” the police statement said.

Grace was shot in the head and he died on the floor.

Now Hairston said she wants justice for her son, whose final act was one of “desperation.” She wants the Pizza Hut employee who killed him to be charged with a crime.

“My son was out doing something wrong … I don’t condone his actions, but he didn’t deserve to die,” she said Monday, while crying. “If you decide to rob someone, then you face a judge.

 “If prison was where he was going, then prison is where he should be instead of in the ground.”

Police have not charged the person who shot Grace or released his identity.

North Carolina law allows a person to use deadly force in self-defense or defense of another. A person is “justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat in any place” if that force is used to prevent death or bodily harm to himself or another.

According to an employee manual posted online, Pizza Hut employees aren’t allowed to carry guns on company property, their first duty during a crime is to contact the police.“If you observe a weapon on an individual, other than a uniformed police officer, push the security panic button immediately,” the handbook says. Pizza Hut officials did not respond to messages seeking comment.

In the statement about Grace’s killing, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said the Pizza Hut franchisee was cooperating with the investigation. “The security of its staff is of [utmost] concern,” the statement said. “They are providing support to the team members involved to ensure their health and well-being following this incident. The employee involved in the shooting has been placed on a leave of absence following further review.”

Hairston has travel to California, where her son was born and where he will be buried but she said will continue to push the company and the police for details about the death of her son. 

Photo courtesy of Temia Hairston: That's the picture of Grace above who was involved robbing and was killed.