LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Out for some food Monday afternoon with her 5-year-old daughter, Deszaraeh Arias, who is also three months pregnant, said she saw a shooting unfold from the McDonald’s drive-thru.
“We were waiting to get our food – we heard a popping noise,” she said. “We thought it was either a vehicle, someone ran over a bottle – something like that.”
Moments later she said she saw a man running in the parking lot of the restaurant on Bardstown Road, just south of the Watterson Expressway.
“He took off down the street and first thing we thought was robbery,” Arias said. “[I] didn’t know exactly what was going on.
Babu, a McDonald’s employee said he didn’t realize what was happening at the time either but quickly learned someone had been shot.
Within minutes of the shots fired, witness said police, an ambulance and firetruck were on scene.
“When officers arrived, they located a male that had been shot. He was transported to University Hospital where he later died of his injuries,” Metro Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell said.
The Jefferson County Coroner's Office later said 25-year-old Daquon Merriweather was pronounced dead at around 3:30 p.m.
Police canvassed the area including nearby streets looking for suspects.
“This shooting does not appear to be random, rather targeted,” Mitchell said. “Our detectives are following leads at this point and are continuing the investigation.
While it does not appear to be a random act of violence, Arias said it’s no less unsettling, especially for her younger daughter.
“It’s really scary, especially being that close to it,” she said. I’ve tried to keep her from stuff like this, so she’s not used to this.”
Metro Police said being in broad daylight or near a busy area on a weekday does not matter anymore when it comes to the city’s rise in violence.
“The matter is we have far too many shootings and far too many homicides in the city of Louisville which I’ve lived in my entire life and never seen it to these proportions."
Anyone with information that can lead police to a suspect is asked to call the Anonymous Tip Line at 574-LMPD.
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