Bar Patron Told Not to Come Back Allegedly Returned and Killed Owner

A Tennessee bar owner was fatally shot after a customer was kicked out of his bar and banned for life — only to allegedly return and open fire in the parking lot.

William Charles Thomas Sullivan, 24, is facing a murder charge in connection with the death of beloved bar owner Randy Croft.

According to a police affidavit, Sullivan was kicked out of the Double CC Bar & Grill near Athens the evening of Friday, Sept. 19 after an incident involving a knife, ABC9 reported.

After he got kicked out, Sullivan’s girlfriend drove him home and she went back to the bar. However, Sullivan allegedly got a ride back to the bar from a neighbor and then grabbed a handgun he kept in his girlfriend’s car, per the police affidavit, Local3News reported.  

“He was back there out in the dark, out in the parking lot in a ravine area, and fired some shots at some other bar patrons,” McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy alleges to PEOPLE. “So that caused them to go back inside and tell people that someone was in the parking lot.”

Guy says Croft jumped in his pickup truck and drove down to the parking lot, where he was shot.

“There were additional gunshots heard, and as my deputies arrived moments later, Mr. Croft’s truck pulled out and took off traveling westbound,” Guy says. “Some of my officers took pursuit of the truck. Others stayed at the scene and located Mr. Croft’s body.”

According to the affidavit, Sullivan allegedly admitted firing several shots at Croft “until his handgun went empty,” ABC9 reported.

He is being held in the McMinn County Jail on a murder charge, the sheriff said, WBIR reported.

“I will not be opening the bar back up.. I cant,” Croft’s wife Stephanie shared on Facebook on Sept. 20. “It killed my Randy and I just can’t stand to be there.”