GBI: Fight sparked by racial slurs led to fatal shooting

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says a man who was shot to death outside of a Waffle House had called other customers racial slurs and started a fight before the shooting.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says a man who was shot to death outside of a Butts County Waffle House had called other customers racial slurs and started a fight before the shooting. (FOX 5 Atlanta)

Agents with the GBI’s Region 6 office responded early Friday, Nov. 1, to the Waffle House at 3201 Highway 36 West in Jackson, at the request of the Butts County Sheriff’s Office.

The call came after the Butts County Sheriff’s Office received three calls late on Halloween night on Thursday, October 31 from the Waffle House.

According to a GBI news release, the first call was about an irate customer, the second was about a fight, and the third was about shots fired.

When deputies arrived, they found 27-year-old Nicholas Phinazee Bryan of Milner  with a gunshot wound.

Medics rushed Bryan to Monroe County Hospital in Forysth, where he died early Friday morning.

According to the release, Bryan had a confrontation with two Flovilla men, 36-year-old Robert Lewis Henderson, Jr. and 39-year-old Antonio DeMarty Evans.

Agents said Bryan had used racial slurs towards Henderson and Evans when he was asked to leave by the Waffle House staff.

The release said Bryan and Evans then had a “physical altercation” when Henderson fired one shot and struck Bryan.

Agents transported Bryan’s body to the GBI Crime Lab for an autopsy.

GBI officials have not said whether charges will be filed.