Waffle House waitress fatally shot in the head after she asked customer not to smoke

Biloxi police Sgt. Donnie Dobbs said Julie Brightwell, 52, who was an employee of a Waffle house in Biloxi, Miss. was shot in the head after arguing with a customer about smoking inside the restaurant around 1 a.m. Friday because the restaurant had a no smoking policy.


Broghtwell died at Merit Health Biloxi a short time later.
The customer, Johnny Max Mount, 45, who was a former firefighter was arrested as he was walking out of the restaurant. He was booked at the Harrison County jail on a charge of first-degree murder.

Mount, Dobbs said, was armed with a 9 mm handgun at the time of the shooting.

pulled out a handgun and shot her in the head,' Sgt Dobbs said. 

Linda Kilpatrick, friend of Brightwell's, told WKRG: 'How could you kill someone over a freaking cigarette, c’mon, and on Thanksgiving night?' 

'She was working the shift like she always does. Was it a regular, was it somebody who’s never been in the store before? I don’t know.'

Mount is being held on a $2 million bond set by Justice Court Judge Albert Fountain.