Virginia

‘Going to Die': Shooting Victim Says Suspect Threatened Diners Before Firing in Virginia Denny's

Prosecutors say Jordan Anderson fatally shot a DoorDash delivery driver while trying to rob customers at a Denny's in Manassas, Virginia, the night after Christmas in 2019

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A man who survived a shooting at a Denny's restaurant in Manassas, Virginia, testified Tuesday that the young man accused of shooting him and killing a DoorDash delivery driver declared to people dining at the restaurant: "Somebody is going to f------ die tonight."

Bradley Sheetz told a Prince William County jury he was at the Denny's with his girlfriend and her little sister about midnight on Dec. 26 when the defendant, Jordan Anderson, and another suspect, Ryan Walker, burst in and commanded that everyone get down on the floor.

Sheetz said the men ordered all of the customers to hand over their phones and valuables. Meanwhile, the restaurant's manager escaped out of the back to call 911.

As the suspects realized their plan to rob customers was foiled, Sheetz said Anderson announced that "somebody is going to f------ die tonight" before pulling back the slide on a pistol.

"My thought process was this guy is going to hurt somebody. He's mad now," Sheetz said.

DoorDash driver and father of two Yusuf Ozgur was shot and killed while picking up a delivery order at a Denny's restaurant in Manassas, Virginia, in 2019. News4's Julie Carey reports on the trial for one of two men accused in his death.

Then, he said Anderson aimed the gun at him.

"I'm sitting there and he pulled the trigger," Sheetz said.

The prosecutor asked Sheetz what that sounded like.

"It was deafening," he said.

Sheetz said he looked down and saw holes in his clothes and blood coming from his wounds.

"I remember feeling extremely hot inside," he testified.

Medics flew Sheetz to INOVA, where emergency surgery saved his life.

In addition to listening to Sheetz's testimony, jurors watched surveillance video Tuesday that prosecutors said shows Anderson pulling the trigger.

A second victim, 56-year-old Yusuf Ozgur, had just walked into the Denny's when prosecutors say Anderson fatally shot him.

Loved ones said their final goodbyes to a father of two who was killed during an armed robbery at a Northern Virginia Denny's. News4's Derrick Ward reports the Turkish community in the region is mourning.

Anderson and Walker were arrested in the killing a few days after the crime. They are both charged with first-degree murder.

During Anderson's interview with detectives, they urged him to search his conscience and cooperate so he might avoid a capital murder charge.

"There is a man with two young children who is no longer with us now. The most important part is what caused this to happen? What was in your mind when you did this?" a detective asks Anderson in the video.

Anderson resisted providing any details at first, saying, "If I help you out, I'll be labeled a snitch. I'll go to a level four or five prison and I'll be murdered."

After more appeals from detectives, he confessed.

"I didn't mean to kill him. I thought he was trying to stop me so I shot him. I didn't (expletive) want to do it," he said in the interview with detectives.

Anderson also admitted to and detailed a series of armed robberies, according to the video of his police interview.

Defense attorneys are expected to try to convince jurors that Anderson panicked and pulled the trigger. They plan to argue that Ozgur's killing was not pre-meditated, therefore, it shouldn't be classified as first-degree murder.

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