The Tragic Reason This Cracker Barrel Manager Is Being Called A 'Hero'
Correction 5/22/23: A previous version of this article stated that 10-year-old Kayla Allen survived the shooting. Sadly, she later died from her injuries.
Cracker Barrel has been saddled with numerous scandals in recent years, including allegations of racism towards employees and the settlement of several sexual harassment lawsuits, not to mention the fatal shooting of a young mother and child at the hands of their husband and father at a Cleveland-area Cracker Barrel in 2012 (via Cleveland.com). That shooting gave rise to a lawsuit against the restaurant for not offering help to the mother and her two children when realizing they were in danger.
Now, in addition to absorbing the shock of being ordered this week to pay $9.4 million to a man who was seriously injured after drinking chemical-tainted water he had been served at a Tennessee location in 2014 (via CNN), the restaurant chain is facing yet another scandal. This one involves a botched robbery attempt at one of Cracker Barrel's locations in Houston, Texas on January 15, resulting in the death of a longtime, well-regarded manager who was getting ready to open the restaurant for business that morning. Here is why the victim, 59-year-old Robin Baucom, is being hailed as a hero, per Fox News.
A Texas grandmother was fatally shot while trying to help her coworker in a botched robbery attempt
At 6:15 a.m. on Saturday, January 15, 2022, 59-year-old Robin Baucom was already inside the Cracker Barrel location she managed, and was preparing to open the doors, according to ABC 13 Houston. Meanwhile, in the parking lot, another employee arriving for work was being accosted by two men who were trying to grab her purse. When Baucom opened the restaurant door to help the other employee escape from the incident in the parking lot, one of the men brandished a gun and shot Baucom in the torso as she tried to prevent him from gaining entry. Baucom, a married mother of three and grandmother of three, died from her injuries after being transported to a hospital.
Now, the 34-year veteran employee of Cracker Barrel is being remembered as a hero. As her family said, Baucom's final act of bravery — attempting to save her coworker and prevent a robbery at her place of business — reflected the type of person she was: Someone who lived to take care of others. "She had a choice," her brother pointed out, as reported by Yahoo! "Leave the employee, shut the door and be safe, or pull the employee inside and try to shut the door, and she made the correct choice and sacrificed her own."
Law enforcement reported an update late yesterday, January 17, via Twitter, that a person of interest has been identified and was later shot by deputies attempting to arrest him. According to local news outlet, KHOU, the man died of his injuries.
Cracker Barrel has released a statement on the tragic shooting, saying, "All of Cracker Barrel is solely focused on supporting our manager's family, her fellow employees, and local law enforcement as we grapple with this tragedy and grieve," per Fox News.