Ezekiel Hicks, 25
KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA--A good Samaritan was fatally shot over the weekend while handing out $20 bills and paying for meals at a Florida restaurant, according to police.
Police arrested Ezekiel Hicks, 25, on murder charges early Sunday morning in the death of 41-year-old Craig Brewer, who was shot and killed at a Waffle House, in Gainesville, Florida, located just a few miles west of the University of Florida.
Officials with the Alachua County Sheriff's Office said the restaurant's surveillance camera captured an altercation between the two on video. Witnesses said they saw the victim arguing with a female acquaintance of the suspect, who was reportedly upset because Brewer's generosity didn't include her.
Hicks intervened and got into a physical altercation with the victim, police said. At one point, Hicks left the Waffle House and retrieved a 9mm Glock pistol, which was later recovered at the scene, according to the sheriff's office.
The altercation "lasted only a few seconds" and ended with Hicks firing multiple shots towards the victim's head, killing him on the scene, the sheriff's office said.
Lt. Brett Rhodenizer, public information officer for the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, said officers had received a call about the restaurant reaching its maximum capacity and were en route when the shooting occurred.
"They feel like they were so close and just far enough away to where they couldn't change the outcome," Rhodenizer told ABC News on Monday. "This incident went from a verbal altercation to a homicide in minutes, if not seconds."
"The speed at which it happened and how quickly it went so bad -- for both the victim and the suspect -- is really kind of the thing that resonates the most with a lot of the folks that have been a part of in the investigation," he added.
Hicks was arrested in the parking lot, where he admitted to shooting Brewer, according to the sheriff's office. Investigators are now looking to see if the victims may have had a prior issue leading up to the argument.
Hicks was being held without bail on charges of premeditated murder in the first degree and carrying an unlicensed firearm. His attorney did not immediately respond to ABC News' email request for comment.
