JACKSONVILLE Fla.-- Fionn MacCool's is speaking up about a Saturday night slashing that happened right in the middle of the pub.
Orange Park High School graduate and former member of the Navy, Matthew Hinson, 27, is now behind bars after police say he fatally slit the throat of 42-year-old father William Pettry.
The pub's general manager, Paul Glaser, tells Action News he's sickened after a father was murdered in cold blood at his restaurant.
"It seems crazy," he said. "The whole idea of a public house is you know where everybody gathers in the center of town and it's a friendly, safe place for people to enjoy themselves."
Glaser says Hinson acted quickly. He says his staff never had the chance to stop Hinson from pulling out a pocketknife and slashing Pettry's throat.
"All of a sudden I hear a voice yelling 'call 911, call 911' and then I called 911 right away," said Glaser. "It came out of nowhere, and there was nothing that could have suggested that anything like this could have happened. It was a wonderful Saturday evening."
According to Glaser, the pub was packed with helpful people. Three nurses and an EMT rushed to try to save Pettry, even a Bears team trainer was on hand, but it was too little, too late.
"I was here and watching it unfold too," said Glaser. "It was a traumatic experience to witness and I'm sure some of our employees are having a hard time after witnessing something so traumatic and so horrific."
Glaser is considering putting in security cameras, but he tells Action News his pub is still the same old place.
"I don't think it changes anything for us" he said. "We are going to continue on the road that we started here building a really nice, family-friendly establishment."
Fionn MacCool's will have grief counseling available for staff.
