Police say a manager shot a customer after an argument over ordering and later hid the handgun in a walk-in freezer.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — What began as a late-night stop for dinner at a Wendy’s in Kansas City ended with a customer shot, a manager in jail and investigators saying the weapon was hidden in a walk-in freezer after a fast-moving dispute over a chicken order.

Prosecutors have charged Terrence R. Phillips, 47, with first-degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon in the March 20 shooting at the Wendy’s at 4931 N. Oak Trafficway. The case matters now because it turns a routine drive-thru exchange into an alleged act of gun violence caught in part on surveillance video, with investigators and the defendant offering sharply different accounts of what happened in the parking lot just before midnight.

The encounter, according to court records, started at the menu board. The customer told police he was there to pick up food for his family when an employee instructed him to pull forward to the pickup window before ordering. He said he was confused, asked why and got what he later described as a rude response. That tone, he told detectives, continued when he reached the window and received his order. The man then drove off, but his drinks spilled inside the vehicle. He circled back to the window to complain, he said, and found that workers would not respond. So he drove around the south side of the building, where he saw the same employee he had argued with standing outside near a vehicle. The customer told police that the man then pulled a gun and fired one shot into his car.

The aftermath unfolded in minutes. Court records cited by local outlets say the wounded man drove away from the restaurant and made it to a nearby residence or apartment building, where emergency crews responded after someone called 911. Officers found him bleeding heavily from a wound that entered near the back of his left shoulder and exited through the middle of his chest. He was taken to a hospital and, before that, told officers that the shooter appeared to be a manager from the Wendy’s. That detail gave investigators a quick line back to the restaurant. Kansas City police officers and Clay County sheriff’s deputies then went to the North Oak location, where they found Phillips, who identified himself as the store manager, and took him into custody.

Investigators say the physical evidence inside and outside the store helped them build the case. A single shell casing was found in the parking lot, according to court documents described by local television stations. Surveillance video from inside the business, police said, showed Phillips walk outside, then captured car lights activating and what officers described as a faint image of a muzzle flash. The footage then appeared to show him reentering the store with what looked like a black handgun in his left pocket. Officers later recovered a black Glock 22 from the restaurant’s walk-in freezer. KSHB reported that investigators determined the gun had been stolen from the Norfolk Police Department, adding another unusual detail to an already volatile case.

Phillips’ statement to detectives did not match the victim’s account. He told police he asked the customer to pull forward because fresh chicken had to be cooked late at night, and he said the two men exchanged words over that request. He also said that when the customer came back through while another order was being taken, the man yelled racial slurs at him. According to the court record, Phillips said he later went outside because the hatch on his car was open, and when the customer drove up he told him to leave. He denied shooting anyone, denied knowing anything about a gun and denied any role in the violence beyond the verbal argument. Three Wendy’s employees, however, told investigators there had been an argument at the drive-thru window, and police said the video and the gun recovery pushed the case beyond a dispute over words.

The legal case moved quickly. Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson announced the charges on March 23, three days after the shooting. Phillips was booked into the Clay County Jail, and Oxygen reported that he pleaded not guilty and was being held on $1 million bond. Wendy’s, through a spokesperson quoted by Oxygen, called the incident totally unacceptable and said the franchise organization was cooperating with law enforcement. Even with the charges filed, there are still unknowns that would matter at trial, including whether prosecutors allege the shot was preplanned or impulsive, what the full surveillance sequence shows before and after the gunfire, and how the handgun ended up in the freezer so quickly after the shooting.

The case now stands as a criminal file built from a short chain of ordinary moments that turned violent: a dinner run, spilled drinks, a complaint, a confrontation outside the building and then a single shot. As of April 17, public reporting showed Phillips charged and jailed, with the case moving through early court proceedings.

Author note: Last updated April 17, 2026.