Suspect Charged in Killing of 18-Year-Old Waffle House Employee

Laurinburg, NC (WorkersCompensation.com) – Officials in North Carolina said they have charged a man with murder after he allegedly killed an 18-year-old Waffle House worker over grits and eggs.

The Laurinburg, N.C. police said Florwer Carlin Lizano, Jr., has been charged with the murder of Burlie Dawson Locklear III in September. Officials said he was extradited from Virginia to North Carolina after a four-month manhunt. The move came after North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein issued a warrant to have Lizano brought back to the state.

Lizano was charged with first-degree murder in the Sept. 13 killing of Locklear in Scotland, County, N.C. Chas Post III, Lizano’s attorney told media that his client is “cloaked in the presumption of innocence.”

Post said that although the district attorney argued Lizano poses a flight risk, he was only outside of North Carolina because he and his family were getting death threats.

"He didn't even know he was charged with a crime until the threats came and until he was posted all over the local news," Post said. "Just because law enforcement said he did it, doesn't mean he did it."

Laurinburg police said Lizano went into the Waffle House on Sept. 13, ordered food and got upset soon after. Police said he became “verbally abusive toward the employees.”

Locklear and his girlfriend were working that day. Officials said Lizano said something to Locklear’s girlfriend. Locklear tried to intervene and gave Lizano his food so Lizano could leave. However, as Lizano started to leave, he turned around and shot Locklear.

“He killed my kid over grits and eggs,” his aunt, Elizabeth Locklear, said. “How do you get so upset over grits and eggs to where you want to take somebody's life?”

Laurinburg police and Virginia State Police said Lizano fled the scene and was on the run for four months. He was captured on Jan. 24 in Portsmouth, Va., nearly 300 miles away from Laurinburg. He was captured after someone called in a tip to Crimestoppers.

Elizabeth Locklear said she took care of the slain teen for most of his life. He took the job at Waffle House, she said, after meeting his girlfriend, Jaylen, who also worked there.

“He was trying to save up his money so he could start school,” Locklear said of Dawson Locklear.

When Dawson Locklear and his girlfriend left for work, Locklear said she remembers being distracted.

“I didn't even get to tell him 'Bye' or I love him like I normally do every day when he leaves,” Locklear said.

Later that night, his girlfriend called Elizabeth Locklear in a panic and said Dawson Locklear’s shooting. Locklear’s family rushed to the restaurant, she said. First responders were at the scene trying to save him. Locklear was taken to the hospital.

“I could see the EMS worker, she was on top of him, doing CPR,” she said. “I already knew right then that it was going to be bad.”

Locklear said she hoped Lizano would see justice for what he did to Dawson Locklear.

“There's no more running," she said. "There's no more trying to fight to get out or not being able to come back to this county to get charged for what he has done. He's done the crime, now he's got to pay the

She contends that Lizano should not have had access to weapons due to a previous firearm conviction.

Post, Lizano’s lawyer, said he agrees that someone who is convicted of a felony should not possess a firearm, but that doesn’t apply to Lizano.

"He did not have a firearm, and he did not commit a crime," Post said.

Customers attacking or killing fast food workers has seemingly been on the rise since the pandemic. Research from the National Institutes of Health found that while workplace homicides had been on the decline between 1994 to 2019, they increased by 11 percent between 2014 and 2019 and increased even more between 2019 and 2021. In 2021, there were 481 workplace homicides in the U.S., the highest number recorded since 2016.

In January of this year, a customer in a Louisville Wendy’s, allegedly upset over cold fries, shot an employee in the drive thru window.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department said 25-year-old Monjah D. James-Wooten and two acquaintances got into an argument with a Wendy’s employee over the cold fries around 19:45 on Jan. 6.

After leaving the drive-thru, James Wooten entered the Wendy’s restaurant with his group and started shooting the Wendy’s employee he’d been arguing with. During the shootout, one bullet hit the employee in the butt. The employee then pulled a firearm out and started to shoot back at James-Wooten.

The victim was taken to a nearby hospital to treat her injuries, police said.

Police said James-Wooten turned himself in and was charged with assault.

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