Charlotte man sentenced for brandishing AR-15 inside Waffle House on Halloween

A Charlotte man will spend seven years in prison for brandishing an AR-15 inside a Waffle House, threatening workers and stealing a register.

Rifle in hand, Jermond Santa Lowery, 29, walked into a north Charlotte Waffle House on Banner Elk Road and told workers “You better get back, yea,” according to court records filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

The employees working the 2023 Halloween shift ran out the back door.

“Hey come back,” Lowery said, according to court filings, ”open up this register right now.”

He also threatened one worker, saying, “Bro I’ll kill you right now bro,” before fleeing with the cash register.

Lowery will serve seven years, the minimum sentence for brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime.

According to letters Lowery’s friends and family sent to U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell, the 29-year-old grew up in Charlotte and graduated from Myers Park High School.

Julia Coin

The Charlotte Observer

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Julia Coin covers courts, legal issues, police and public safety around Charlotte and is part of the Pulitzer-finalist team that covered Tropical Storm Helene in North Carolina. As the Observer’s breaking news reporter, she unveiled how fentanyl infiltrated local schools. Michigan-born and Florida-raised, she studied journalism at the University of Florida, where she covered statewide legislation, sexual assault on campus and Hurricane Ian in her hometown of Sanibel Island. Support my work with a digital subscription