Bloomington restaurant shooting: Nearby business owners react

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (FOX 9) - It was chaos and confusion at the Penn Lake Shopping Center on the day before Thanksgiving.

"The first thing I saw was a cop running by with his gun out. We don't like it. It's getting tiresome to be honest with you," said Instant Replay Sports manager Andy Knaeble.

Bloomington police say a man with a gun walked into the Co Tu Restaurant early Wednesday afternoon, where several customers wrestled with him and pushed him out of the restaurant twice. But the gunman returned a third time and fired several shots, killing a 49-year-old man, who was a long-time customer, and wounding a server before he took off.

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"This is absolutely ridiculous and this dude's a cold-blooded killer," said Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges.

A witness who was in the restaurant told FOX 9 the gunman was wearing an old man mask.

The witness says he fought with the gunman but eventually ran out of the building.
When he came back in, the witness saw the customer who had been shot laying on the floor, so he started to perform CPR on him until a doctor in the restaurant took over

"It's Thanksgiving. Families are getting together. You are in a restaurant eating and this happens. So I just feel bad for the victims," said chief Hodges.

The shooting was particularly disturbing for the owner of Penn Lake Roast Beef two doors down, who himself was shot during a robbery two years ago.

"It was shock. Oh my god. It happened again. Oh my god. No," said Penn Lake Roast Beef owner Kevan Tran.

People who work in the strip mall hope gun violence doesn't become a common occurrence.

"Obviously I don't want it happening. It affects a lot of people. Hope things get better before they get worse."