Police Kill Hooters Shooting Suspect

A man suspected of killing a customer and wounding a manager at a Hooters restaurant was shot and killed by police a day later, authorities said Monday.

David Michael Rudd, 25, was shot several times on Sunday night in a parking lot behind another restaurant after he repeatedly refused to put down two guns he was holding, police spokesman Darrell DeBusk said. No officers were injured.

Police had gone to the other restaurant after receiving a tip that Rudd had been seen there.

Police believe Rudd was the man who fired shots from a .40-caliber handgun into a Hooters restaurant Saturday morning after a dispute with a cashier over his bar tab, Lt. Kenny Miller said Sunday.

Investigators could not yet positively identify Rudd as the shooter at the restaurant, but they planned to test the guns he was carrying to determine if either was used at the Hooters.

Rudd had been plagued by mental illness since he was a teenager, his uncle Robert Rudd told The Knoxville News Sentinel.

David Rudd had been in and out of jails and mental health facilities over the last decade, his uncle said. He would be released once medication controlled his delusions, but he would stop taking the drugs once he got out, said Robert Rudd, 62, of Ft. Myers, Fla.

"It's a terrible disease," Rudd said. "If he had cancer, he would have gotten help. But the system failed him."

A customer, Stacey Sherman, 35, of Applegate, Mich., was killed by a gunshot as he was leaving the restaurant. Police don't believe he was involved in the dispute.

Family members told the Times Herald of Port Huron, Mich., that the Sherman left behind a wife, Tony, and shared eight children, ranging from ages 7 to 16.

Carla Sontag, Sherman's sister, said he was in Tennessee to find a demolition derby car for the upcoming season.

Sherman had been racing demolition derbies for about 10 years.

"Even if he's going to run you over in the derby, he would come over (afterward) and help you work on your car," Sontag said.

Manager Kris Key, 24, was wounded and treated at University of Tennessee Medical Center. Hospital officials said there was no patient by that name being treated on Monday morning and refused to give any details.

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