MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A baby was caught in the middle of the violence of a brutal attack at a local restaurant.
It happened at the IHOP just outside of Southland Mall on East Shelby Drive late Saturday night.
Two sisters are accused of starting the fight that led to hundreds of dollars worth of damage.
The violent attack was caught on video, and a baby is heard crying in the background.
Customers were there as chairs were launched across the room. The business was nearly destroyed as the fight took a serious turn.
“Oh, she got a knife. She got a knife.”
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People we showed the video to couldn’t believe their eyes — they said it was crazy.
“The violence just needs to stop,” one person said.
“That could have gone any kind of way. That could have gotten uglier than it is,” said said.
Police arrested two sisters. Janika Nellums is an employee at the restaurant, and Sharika Strickland is her older sister.
Officers said this all stemmed from a beef with management the day before.
WREG walked through the doors looking for answers, but the employees did not talk.
Saturday night, a manager told police the women came there to fight.
But the suspects’ mother said her daughters are the real victims.
“You can try to avoid it or ignore ’em, but it’s only going to go on for so long,” she said.
Nellums’ mother claimed she was being bullied at work everyday, until things finally spiraled out of control.
“They could have handled it better. I would never tell someone defending themselves is wrong.”
But she wishes her grandson wasn’t caught in the middle of it.
That baby was checked out at the scene and is expected to be OK.
We also reached out to IHOP about what it’s doing to ensure customer safety, but we have not heard back.
