Alonniea Ford-Theriot, Houston Jack in the Box worker shoots at family over missing curly fries as customer files lawsuit against employee and outlet with worker insisting she was provocated following racist abuse from upset customer.
Released video footage shows a Houston, Jack in the Box drive-thru worker shooting at a family of of three — including a 6-year-old girl and her pregnant mother — following an argument over missing curly fries.
The fast food employee, identified as Alonniea Fantasia Ford-Theriot, is seen taking out her gun and firing at the car carrying the family as the driver sped away during the March 2021 dispute, surveillance footage shows, according to an ongoing lawsuit that was filed last year.
Seconds before gunfire rang out, Ford furiously threw ketchup packets and other items at the driver, identified as the pregnant woman’s husband Anthony Ramos.
Family shaken up over incident files lawsuit
Ramos then tossed items back at the worker while another employee tried to intervene according to the footage.
Following the shooting, Ford walked away and then returned to the window where she casually cleaned up the mess, the footage shows.
The footage is part of a 2022 lawsuit filed against Jack In The Box and Ford. Ramos and his wife are seeking more than $1 million in damages.
The gun violence was sparked when Ramos drove up to the fast food eatery after picking up his wife and child from the airport.
Ramos, a Florida resident, was in Texas to help restore power in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. The man’s pregnant wife and daughter flew from Miami to meet him.
‘The incident shook the family up so much that Plaintiff Anthony Ramos quit his contracting job in the Houston area and returned to Florida,’ the lawsuit states.
‘The plaintiff saw that after he received his order from Ford, it was missing curly fries, leading to the escalating argument,’ the lawsuit states.
‘I’m not an angry person. (I’m) not a mad monster out here!’
Ford was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the lawsuit.
She later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor deadly conduct, according to legal papers provided by the family’s lawyer.
Ford-Theriot got one year of deferred adjudication community supervision, which she completed in June 2023.
The worker and the restaurant still face the civil lawsuit, in which Ramos and his family claim they were exposed to a dangerous employee and were traumatized.
In court filings, the fast food restaurant denied the allegations and said it had ‘no control’ over and is not ‘legally responsible’ for third parties.
Defending her actions, Ford-Therio said Ramos was threatening her and calling her racial slurs, which he denies. The video shows her checking her gun. She said she asked him to drive away several times. The man refused according to the worker, leading to the ‘threatened’ employee taking out her gun.
Told Ford-Theriot via ABC13: ‘I’m not an angry person. (I’m) not a mad monster out here. I’m just a woman trying to work for my family.’
Adding, ‘I’m not going to pull out no gun and shoot at somebody over no curly fries. Come on.’
‘Jack-In-The-Box needs to do background checks on employees so as not to expose their customers to someone who would attempt to kill them,’ the family’s lawyer Randall L. Kallinen said in a statement.
‘These rage cases are getting out of hand in Houston.’
A company spokesman has since released the following statement:
‘While we cannot comment on ongoing litigation, we are aware of the situation involving an employee of one of our independent franchisees and remain focused on providing a safe environment for customers and restaurant workers.’
It wasn’t immediately clear how the fast food restaurant vetted potential employees and why the outlet insisted on not taking responsibility for the worker’s actions to the public.
