A late-night argument over food orders outside a Hawthorne burger stand ended with a 57-year-old off-duty security guard shot dead, and now the man who pulled the trigger is headed to prison for 40 years to life. Darryl Deshon Fletcher, 56, was sentenced Friday in Airport Superior Court for the January 2024 killing of Eddie McAllister, a father of four from Lawndale.
According to the Daily Breeze, Fletcher and McAllister were both inside Fabulous Charbroiled Burgers at 3301 Rosecrans Ave. just past 2 a.m. on January 17, 2024, waiting for their food orders when the two strangers began arguing. Restaurant surveillance video captured the moments leading up to the fight, and two people inside the restaurant recorded the confrontation and shooting on their cellphones, per court papers cited by the outlet.
Court papers reported that Fletcher challenged McAllister to a fight, and McAllister knocked Fletcher to the ground during the scuffle. Fletcher went back outside less than 10 seconds after McAllister left, according to the same court papers, and grabbed a gun that fell from a concealed area before shooting McAllister in the chest.
A Confrontation Between Strangers
Hawthorne Police Department detectives reported at the time that investigators did not believe Fletcher and McAllister had any prior relationship or acquaintance before the argument inside the restaurant, according to CBS Los Angeles. McAllister was working as an unarmed security guard, per Fox 11 Los Angeles, and had just finished an off-duty shift before stopping to eat…