Settlement reached in 2018 Columbia Waffle House shooting
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A settlement is in place between the family of a man killed at a Columbia Waffle House, the restaurant and the security guard that killed him.
Attorneys for members of Anthony Warren's family filed the proposed settlement with Judge Jeff Harris on Wednesday. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but the motion from A.W. Smith notes that structured settlements are in place for Warren's three children.
Passion Hambright, the mother of the three children, sued Waffle House, Signal 88 and Robert Moses, the private security guard that killed Warren on New Year's Day 2018 at the Vandiver Drive location. Moses was breaking up a fight between two other people when a third person threw a carafe at Moses. The security guard then turned and fired at Warren, who was standing nearby but uninvolved. Warren's mother, Mary Warren, joined into the lawsuit later.
A jury convicted Matthew McMillan of felony murder for Warren's death. McMillan and another man began fighting in the Waffle House, which caused Moses to intervene in the first place. Prosecutors did not charge Moses for the shooting.
Smith wrote that the security firm and the restaurant deny any liability as part of the settlement. Harris is set to review the settlement at a July 12 hearing. Smith said attorneys for the family are set to collect 40 percent of the settlement's proceeds as part of the agreement.
Smith argued that Signal 88 was negligent in hiring Moses as an armed security guard. Moses had previously failed a shooting test numerous times before obtaining his license from the city of Columbia.
