The co-owner of Edible Art bakery on Monday reflected on the chaos that occurred on Friday around the corner at Coquette restaurant in Raleigh.
Jonathan Schaffer, 26, was killed, and another server, Jonathan Aguilar, was injured Friday morning when witnesses say Coquette’s executive chef, George Colom, opened fire before turning the gun on himself. On Sunday, police confirmed Colom’s death from his injuries.
“He was laying right here…at that time we didn’t know what was going on,” Heather Glatfelter said of Colom, who was moved by first responders around the corner in front of Edible Arts.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the motive behind the deadly shooting.
There’s a growing memorial outside of Coquette, where windows are filled with heartfelt messages from Schaffer’s friends and coworkers.
The restaurant remains closed.
Urban Food Group, which owns Coquette and other local restaurants, posted a statement on its website saying they have been “overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from our Raleigh community and are grateful for it.” They added that they are “working now to care for our staff.”
Colom worked at several North Carolina restaurants over the years. Prior to his time as a chef in North Carolina, Colom was in federal prison in New Mexico on charges of possession of a stolen firearm, court records show. A Facebook profile featuring Colom showed images of guns with evidence tags on them.
Colom was active on social media, often charting his culinary projects. In 2021, he opened up about the stress of the restaurant industry.
“Let’s face it – we are prisoners of our own emotional package. Some of these emotions are visible and some are not; some are more pronounced in certain individuals, and some are barely noticeable in others, but the fact remains that our emotional package can be, and in many cases is: in control,” the post read.
“Chefs, for some reason have a history of wearing their emotions on their sleeves, but I would dare to say that even in the case of the most visible emotional chef there is much that is hidden under the surface. Sometimes, maybe most times, chefs try to keep certain emotions under wraps, hide them so that others will not perceive the chef as weak or vulnerable. At the same time, chefs tend to put more energy into the emotions that they believe will demonstrate strength or power over others. To this end, emotions that we try to control are dangerous and misleading.”
Colom’s co-worker Andrew McKnight stopped by Coquette on Monday to try to make sense of what happened on Friday.
“I didn’t see any violence in him like that,” McKnight said. “I was more shocked that he would do something like that because obviously with his background and his criminal background – I was more shocked than anything.”