Police: Pickles dispute preceded McDonald’s shootings

USA TODAY NETWORK   –   MacKenzie Elmer, The Des Moines Register

DES MOINES — Two 18-year-olds who were shot outside an Ankeny McDonald’s Saturday night reportedly said something about pickles inside the restaurant that made their alleged shooter angry about their behavior, police say.

Gabriel Joe Coco, 36, of Des Moines, turned himself into the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at 10:44 p.m. Saturday, when the log notes that the suspect in the shooting was in custody, authorities said.

According to police logs, at 10:23 p.m. outside a McDonald’s in the 2500 block of S.W. State St. in Ankeny, someone identified as “Nick” called 911 , reporting that a person had been “pistol-whipped and shot in (the) leg.”

“This guy was just in the McDonald’s. Caller was upset about pickles, and the male beat him,” dispatchers wrote in the log, which gives police information about a crime scene as they approach.

Police arrived to find Nickolas Culver and his friend Justin Phongsavanh, both 18, with gunshot wounds. Capt. Joe Schaffer of the Ankeny Police Department said investigators mentioned that a “Nick” tried to call 911 that night, but it wasn’t clear if it was Culver.

“The reason these kids were shot was not because of pickles,” Shaffer said, adding that they “alluded” to something about pickles. “There was an interaction between McDonald’s staff and the victims in this case. … What our suspect saw, he did not agree with.”

Whatever happened inside the store allegedly irked Coco, who responded with violence, police said.

Coco didn’t know the boys, Schaffer said, and the 18-year-olds’ comments and “poor behavior” weren’t directed at anyone specific inside the restaurant, Schaffer said.

“But it particularly bothered Mr. Coco,” Schaffer said, declining to elaborate.

The shooter allegedly left in a black Chevy driven by a woman before turning himself in, according to the log.

The handgun Coco allegedly used in the shooting was still inside the vehicle when he arrived, the trip log states. Shaffer said police have not had a chance to confirm who owned the gun but said Saturday was the first time Ankeny police interacted with Coco.

Police identified the female driver but did not charge her, according to a news release.

Culver was released from Mercy Medical Center at 1:15 p.m. Sunday, but Phongsavanh remained Monday in hospital care. Gregg Lagan of Mercy Medical Center said Phongsavanh was in the Intensive Care Unit in serious but stable condition.

Coco is charged with two felony counts of willful injury, a charge that carries up to 10 years in prison.

Coco was released from the Polk County Jail at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday.

Management at the restaurant declined to comment Monday.