Authorities say two strangers crossed paths inside a Scenic Highway restaurant before one was shot in the chest.
SNELLVILLE, Ga. — A routine line inside a Gwinnett County Chick-fil-A became the center of a felony case after police said one customer insulted another, drew a pistol and shot him in the chest.
The shooting happened April 7 at the Chick-fil-A on the 1500 block of Scenic Highway in Snellville, a suburban city east of Atlanta. The case drew new attention when Jamaal Jenkins, 44, appeared before a Gwinnett County judge for a preliminary hearing. He is charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and reckless conduct. The judge denied bond and sent the charges to Superior Court after hearing testimony from a Snellville police detective.
The restaurant was not described in court as the site of a planned meeting or a known dispute. Snellville Police Detective Victor Martinez said Jenkins and the victim were strangers before the shooting. They were standing in line when Jenkins began talking to the other man, according to the detective. Martinez said Jenkins first told the man that he smelled like cigarette smoke. The comment was followed by more personal insults. “The defendant called the victim a weirdo,” Martinez said. The detective also testified that Jenkins used a racial slur. Within moments, police said, the exchange moved from words to physical contact and then to gunfire.
Martinez told the judge that the victim punched Jenkins once in the face. Jenkins then pulled a Glock 42 from his pocket, fired three shots and hit the victim once in the chest, the detective testified. The courtroom account did not say whether the punch knocked Jenkins down, whether employees had time to intervene or whether anyone tried to separate the men before the gun appeared. It also did not say whether the victim spoke after being shot. Police did say Jenkins remained at the scene when officers arrived. The detective’s testimony placed the whole encounter inside the restaurant, close enough to other customers that prosecutors argued the shooting put the community at risk.
The public setting shaped the legal argument over bond. Prosecutors told the judge Jenkins was a danger because shots were fired inside a crowded restaurant. Even when a bullet strikes one person, gunfire in a business can threaten workers behind the counter, people waiting for food and families nearby. That danger is reflected in the reckless conduct charge. It also helped prosecutors argue that release conditions would not be enough. The defense offered a stay-away order from the victim and from the restaurant, but prosecutors said the alleged conduct showed a broader risk than contact with one person or one location.
Defense attorney Teombre Calland argued that Jenkins should not be held without bond. She told the judge that Jenkins had no felony convictions and was not a flight risk. She said the case involved self-defense because the victim punched Jenkins first. The defense position did not erase the gunfire but asked the court to consider what happened immediately before it. That argument will likely remain important as the case moves forward. At the preliminary hearing stage, the judge was not deciding whether Jenkins is guilty. The judge was deciding whether prosecutors had enough evidence to continue and whether Jenkins should remain jailed while the case is pending.
One detail made the detective’s account more serious. Martinez testified that Jenkins did not stop after firing the first shots. He said Jenkins chased the victim and tried to keep shooting until the Glock malfunctioned. Martinez told the court the malfunction may have prevented the shooting from becoming fatal. The reports from the hearing did not identify the exact malfunction or say whether police later tested the weapon. They did not say whether video showed the alleged chase or whether witnesses described it. Still, the claim became a key part of why prosecutors said Jenkins’ actions went beyond an immediate reaction to being struck in the face.
The victim’s identity and full medical condition were not released in the reports from the hearing. Police said he was struck once in the chest, a wound that can be life-threatening. No public update described his recovery, the length of any hospital stay or whether he gave a statement to investigators. The absence of those details left the court record focused mostly on what officers say Jenkins did and what the detective said witnesses and evidence showed. The case also did not include, in the available public reports, any statement from Chick-fil-A or from employees who were present during the shooting.
After hearing the testimony, the judge bound the charges over to Superior Court and denied bond. That decision means the case leaves the early screening stage and moves to a court where felony cases are handled. Jenkins remains presumed innocent unless convicted. Prosecutors may still seek an indictment or continue through other felony procedures, and the defense can challenge the evidence at later hearings. The next court date was not listed. Until then, the most complete public account remains the detective’s courtroom description of a sudden confrontation between two men waiting in the same restaurant line.
The Scenic Highway Chick-fil-A returned to the background of daily life after the shooting, but the case continued in court. Jenkins remained in the Gwinnett County Jail without bond, and the next procedural step had not been publicly posted by Wednesday.
Author note: Last updated May 27, 2026.