
Background: The Wingstop located at 7706 Winchester Road, Suite 103, in Memphis, Tennessee (Google Maps). Inset: Johnisa Herring (Shelby County Sheriff”s Office).
An employee at a Wingstop in Tennessee is accused of throwing hot cooking oil onto two patrons during a disagreement.
Johnisa Herring, 25, faces an aggravated assault charge, according to a complaint affidavit signed on Monday ordering her arrest.
The alleged attack happened several days earlier.
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On July 22, two women entered a Wingstop located on Winchester Road in Memphis to pick up an order. While they were inside the restaurant, they became embroiled in an argument with Herring.
As the two patrons were “continuing to argue with Herring, Herring went to the kitchen, grabbed a bowl and filled it with hot cooking oil,” the affidavit states. The defendant is then said to have walked back “and threw the bowl of hot oil” onto the women.
One of the customers was hit in the face and upper torso, requiring her to be brought to a local hospital “where she now suffers from 2nd degree burns to 18.5% of her body,” police said, adding that the hot oil hit the other woman on her right shoulder, burning her.
The more significantly injured woman later identified Herring as the attacker, the affidavit states. It is unclear what exactly prompted the argument between the women.
Herring was placed in the Shelby County Jail on a $7,500 bond and was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, Memphis-based CBS affiliate WREG reported. On Saturday, she was no longer listed in the jail’s inmate roster, suggesting she has been released.
The suspect is set to make her next appearance in court on Aug. 25.
Wingstop is a restaurant chain based in Texas that specializes in chicken wings.