A 21-year-old man has finally spoken about the senseless incident that nearly took his life after a fireman became enraged over an 83 cents Big Mac discount and shot him at a McDonald’s in Rio de Janeiro.
Mateus Carvalho was working the cash register at the fast food restaurant’s drive-thru window May 9 when off-duty military firefighter Paulo de Souza arrived around 2am and repeatedly honked his horn at the driver who was being serviced in front him.
De Souza placed a promotional order for a Big Mac meal and then got upset when Carvalho informed him that he was unable to validate the coupon because the order was already in the system.
‘It was a very futile thing, man. If he waited a minute I would have called the manager, he would have accepted the coupon,’ Carvalho told Brazilian news outlet G1 in an interview that aired over the weekend. ‘He was going to take what he wanted. If I am not mistaken, the couple offered a difference of 83 cents. I was shot over 83 cents.’
Footage of the horrific event showed a furious de Souza standing outside the drive-thru pickup window and punching Carvalho in the face. Carvalho then reached through the window and punched de Souza.
He subsequently left his vehicle parked in the driveway and walked towards the side entrance and pushed his way through who appears to be an employee and a customer as he held his gun out.
De Souza headed to the back of the McDonald’s area where he confronted Carvalho and shot him in the stomach.
Carvalho was rushed to a Lourenço Jorge Municipal Hospital, where doctors performed an emergency surgery.
The bullet struck the left kidney, which has been removed. It also made contact with the large intestine and remained lodged in the back.
Because of the injuries, Carvalho has to use a colostomy bag and is due back in the hospital in July for an operation to remove the bag.
De Souza fled the restaurant and was placed in custody on Friday after he turned himself in. He facing an aggravated attempted murder charge.
He told the police that he fired his gun at Carvalho by accident when he punched him. However, a friend who was with de Souza told police the shooting was not an accident
For Carvalho, the McDonald’s gig was his first real job.
The company said it would offered all the support Carvalho and his family need.
It’s unknown if he has any plans of returning to the same workplace where two customers threatened him and a manager on April 1 after they confronted them over a fake bill.
‘It’s still hard to accept that in a few few seconds, and for such a trivial reason, my whole life has changed like this,’ Carvalho said. It didn’t just hurt my body, so it’s going to hurt for a long time. The damage has been done, this is something that takes time to heal.’