Family demands answers after eldery woman dies following altercation at Tim Hortons

“You should not enter a coffee shop for a coffee and a doughnut and come out unalived,” Tawnda Grayson said of her mother’s death. “That is diabolical.”

The family of 75-year-old Anita Grayson is calling for answers after an altercation at a Tim Horton’s restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, resulted in the elderly woman’s death.

“My mother was wronged in the worst way,” her daughter, Tawnda Grayson, told 21 Alive News. “I lost the matriarch of my family.”

Officers from the Fort Wayne Police Department responded on May 13 to an 8 a.m. report of an altercation at the Tim Horton’s location on Ice Way near Lima Road and West Coliseum Boulevard.

Police said Grayson had entered the establishment to complain about her drive-thru order. Once inside, she began arguing and “berating” a 17-year-old employee.

A 20-year-old team leader stepped in and asked Grayson to leave. Surveillance footage released by police showed the employee then tried to block Grayson from attacking the younger worker, but she “forcefully” shoved the team leader backward and struck her in the face.

As previously reported by theGrio, the employee walked toward Grayson and attempted to fight back. However, the 75-year-old scratched her face, knocked her glasses off, and pulled a chunk of her hair out.

About 10 minutes after the incident, Grayson was found unresponsive on the floor. She was transported to a local hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

Fort Wayne police said they initially released limited details about the incident with respect to Grayson’s family. However, a “dangerously false narrative, along with poor-quality video circulating publicly, has led to significant public concern and misinformation,” 21 Alive News reported.

Tawnda said an anonymous person who was at the restaurant during the incident texted a video to another family member. She then shared it on social media, with many calling for arrests and protesting the location.

“I just called out to God, we need to see it. I have to see that — please show me — because I need to at least know how, why,” she said she prayed before receiving the video, Tawnda said, per 21 Alive News.

“You should not enter a coffee shop for a coffee and a doughnut and come out unalived,” she added. “That is diabolical.”

She also called out the police department and their handling of the investigation, stating that her mom should still be alive. According to her, Grayson had congestive heart failure and was wearing a heart monitor a week before the altercation.

The Allen County Coroner’s office has yet to rule an official cause of death. However, preliminary findings show there were “no significant contributory injuries.”

The Fort Wayne Police Department responded to public concern and insisted they wait on the “review process” based on the full surveillance footage and not video clips that have circulated online.

No arrests have been made. Authorities, as well as the prosecutor’s office, have stated that the incident remains an ongoing investigation.

Tawnda believes otherwise. She has accused the police of editing the video using artificial intelligence to make it look like Grayson attacked first.

“They’re trying to cover it up,” she told the Daily Mail, claiming that investigators want to “blame my mom” instead of charging the Tim Horton workers.

Tawnda has also launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to cover her mother’s funeral and memorial expenses. So far, she has raised over $5,000 of the initial $12,000 goal.

Pastor and activist Carlton Lynch, a Fort Wayne native who now resides in Michigan, said funeral services for Grayson are scheduled for the first week of June and will be open to the public, according to WANE.