FLORISSANT, Mo. — Dozens of shell casings. Shattered windows. Bullet-riddled cars.
And all outside of an Applebee's.
It started as a family-friendly Friday night out. Mellissha Brown, her husband and their three children were at the Applebee's Grill & Bar on Lindbergh Boulevard in Florissant around 8 p.m. They were enjoying each other's company over chicken strips and laughter.
"All of a sudden we kinda hear, it might be arguing, I'm not sure what it was. Then shortly after, not even a minute later, a lady runs up to the bar and says, 'that guy has a gun.'"
Brown said it was only a matter of seconds before shots were fired. Several cars were hit.
"It was just chaos. People were running and scrambling all around." And in the midst of all this, Brown was pulling her children under their booth for cover. "I was definitely scared for my kids. I felt helpless, like I couldn't protect them. Like, we didn't know where the bullets were coming from, but they were very close."
While no one was injured, she said it was her 12-year-old daughter Hope who took it the hardest.
"I was scared, and I didn't know if we would walk out alive or not," Hope said. Less than 24 hours later, she's still shaken.
Brown said that in all the chaos, their servers brought them and others to the kitchen to safety.
"Kudos to them. They are not trained to put their lives on the line for us. Amazing."
Police arrested two suspects involved in the shooting. One of them is a juvenile.
Police haven't said much about what led up to this, but they do say this was not a random incident.