Angry Zaxby’s drive-thru customer calls store, threatens to shoot employee, NC cops say

An angry Zaxby’s drive-thru customer was arrested this week, police said, after he’s accused of threatening to shoot one of the restaurant’s employees.

Jimmy Mott, a 53-year-old from Newton, was charged Monday with ethnic intimidation, according to a news release from the Hickory Police Department.

Investigators say the incident happened Sunday at the Zaxby’s restaurant in the 1300 block of Lenoir Rhyne Boulevard. Hickory is about 50 miles northwest of Charlotte in Catawba County.

The identity and age of the employee involved in the incident were not released, but police said the person was a juvenile.

“The investigation revealed that Jimmy Mott ... called Zaxby’s management to complain after leaving the drive through area of the restaurant, used a racial slur and threatened to shoot an employee he had interacted with while attempting to order food,” police said in a release.

Mott turned himself in Monday for arrest and “received a $1,500 unsecured bond,” police said.

Ethnic intimidation is a Class 1 misdemeanor in North Carolina that prohibits assaulting or threatening a person (or damaging their property) “because of race, color, religion, nationality, or country of origin.”

Zaxby’s is a Georgia-based chain of restaurants with locations in about 17 states, most of them in the Southeast.

This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Angry Zaxby’s drive-thru customer calls store, threatens to shoot employee, NC cops say."