Inset: Tavares McFadden-World (Richland County Sheriff's Department). Background: The Chuck E. Cheese in South Carolina, where Tavares McFadden-World allegedly pulled a gun on three people and held a victim against their will (Google Maps).
A South Carolina teenager entered a Chuck E. Cheese last weekend, wielded a gun and pointed it at a worker's head and at two others — threatening them and holding a man against his will — in front of terrified children and parents, cops and patrons say.
"My kids can't sleep now," said an anonymous Midlands father, who spoke to local Fox affiliate WACH about the Saturday incident.
"That's the only time I felt like I wanted to cry because my babies, I saw pure fear in their eyes," the dad recounted. "They've never been in that situation before."
The man was with his wife and children at a Chuck E. Cheese in Columbia when police say Tavares McFadden-World, 19, entered the kids' entertainment and restaurant establishment with a gun on Saturday and started pointing it at people inside.
According to the Richland County Sheriff's Department, at least three people were threatened, including an employee, and one of them was taken hostage. An individual who was at the Chuck E. Cheese pulled out his own firearm and pointed it at McFadden-World, which prompted him to flee — but not before he allegedly dropped his gun and scattered bullets across the floor, WACH reports.
"My wife felt powerless," the father told the outlet. "She was just holding my girls tight and she knew there was nothing she could do."
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McFadden-World allegedly got into the car of another teenager, Kenzie Miller, after fleeing from the Chuck E. Cheese and left the scene. Police were called and started investigating the incident when the pair eventually returned and were detained without incident, the sheriff's department reports.
The father who spoke to WACH said a lack of security measures at the children's entertainment restaurant was partially to blame for what happened.
"They didn't check anything, [McFadden-World] came in easily," the dad said. "They had zero security."
Chuck E. Cheese did not respond to Law&Crime's requests for comment on Tuesday.
McFadden-World is facing charges of kidnapping, assault and battery, three counts of pointing and presenting a firearm, and tampering with evidence. The woman who picked him up, Kenzie Miller, is charged with obstruction of justice.
They were both booked at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. McFadden-World was being held on a $75,000 bond, while Miller's status was unclear.
