BESSEMER CITY, N.C. (AP) — A man intentionally rammed a vehicle into a steak and seafood restaurant in North Carolina on Sunday, killing his daughter and daughter-in-law who had been seated at a table inside with other family members, police said.
The vehicle’s driver, Roger Self, was immediately arrested and the preliminary evidence indicates he purposely drove all the way into the Surf and Turf Lodge about noon, authorities said. Jail records show he’s been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his daughter, Katelyn Self, a deputy with the Gaston County Sheriff’s Office, and his daughter-in-law, Amanda Self, a nurse.
The Gaston Gazette reports Amanda Self was the wife of Roger Self’s son, Gaston County Police Officer Josh Self. Injured but expected to survive were Josh Self; Roger Self’s wife, Diane; and the 13-year-old daughter of Josh and Amanda Self.
Police said they were opening a homicide investigation but they gave no initial indication what circumstances led up to the crash that sent stunned patrons scrambling at the restaurant about 30 miles west of Charlotte.
Caleb Martin, a 14-year-old who identified himself as a busboy at the restaurant, said he saw the crash and was stunned by the suddenness of it all.
“I walked over to my station and I heard a loud boom,” Caleb told WSOC-TV. He says he did not know what to do at first, but quickly joined arriving first responders in helping those injured by clearing debris and tables away. “The one guy I could help in back, he was pretty hurt.”
Footage from the restaurant scene showed emergency responders treating people on the ground outside as shocked patrons milled about Sunday afternoon.
“He drove his car into the building, killing people, so that’s why we took him into custody immediately,” Bessemer City Police Chief Thomas Ellis Jr. said.
Katelyn Self, 26, was a four-year veteran of the Gaston County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Alan Cloninger told The Charlotte Observer. She had worked as a corporal in the jail and was off duty when she was fatally injured.
Cloninger choked up as he spoke about the crash.
“Tragic, tragic loss of life … we’re suffering right now,” he told reporters.
The sheriff’s office tweeted a photograph of the deputy via social media, adding “Our hearts are broken” and saying the agency requested thoughts and prayers not only for the deputy’s family and friends but for her “brothers and sisters in uniform.”
Authorities said the family was requesting privacy and referred any questions to the family’s pastor. Messages left at the telephone of the pastor by The Associated Press were not immediately returned.
The Gaston Gazette identified Roger Self as being from Dallas, North Carolina. A 2017 profile in the Gazette said Roger Self ran a private investigations business called Southeastern Loss Management. It said the business opened in 1989 and mostly helped companies investigate employees’ wrongdoing.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman Rob Tufano called the crash a “mass casualty” incident, and reports said some of the victims were flown by helicopter to a medical center. There was no immediate count on the number of injured or the extent of the injuries.
The Gaston Gazette identified the vehicle as a sports utility vehicle and photographs showed a shattered opening in a restaurant wall. Others showed people being treated on the ground outside the restaurant.
Are we going to be thrown into the collective pot to be penalized by the actions of one guy killing people with his car? Will this type of car be confiscated? Will people be told they must turn this type of car in or they will become a felon? Compare what those powers that have no power ultimately do when someone is killed in a supposed school shooting. They throw us all into the collective pot to suffer for the actions of another. No authority to do so. The agenda is to disarm us, this is why the great cry and call when shootings happen. Obviously, cars can kill just as easily, but there will be no out cries or attempted dispossession to remove this property because it’s not the agenda, and besides, the state makes cash on registration, licensing, etc. as well as the insurance companies.
Interesting also that they were in pig enforcement.
Family Feud…..survey says: I can understand running down a mother-in-law, and even a daughter-in-law, but if you take out your own daughter too, that must have been an ugly dispute.
sounds like he might have done society a solid
full circle
“Jail records show he’s been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his daughter, Katelyn Self, a deputy with the Gaston County Sheriff’s Office,…”
Justifiable homicide.
“… and his daughter-in-law, Amanda Self, a nurse.”
Unjustifiable.
Fry him.