'7 employees were terminated:' Vicious brawl at Milwaukee Popeyes caught on cellphone video

MILWAUKEE -- Outrageous cellphone video from inside a Milwaukee Popeyes restaurant shows a group of employees getting into a vicious brawl. This all went down while customers were inside. The violent encounter happened at the Popeyes near 76th and Good Hope Road around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

Richard Fourté

"It was just out of control," said Richard Fourté, a customer.

Richard Fourté wanted to avoid the drive-thru line -- and went inside.

"I said to myself, I said, 'Wow, there's a lot of people working here,"' Fourté said.

Soon it went from calm to chaos inside the restaurant.

"I heard one of them yell, 'It's a fight," Fourté said. "They ran to the back by the grills, OK. Now, there was a fight back there. I didn't get that one on tape."

Fourté said tensions were just beginning to mount. Feeling the hostility, Fourté grabbed his cellphone and started recording.

Moments later, a violent fight broke out with several employees throwing punches.

Soon, the situation cooled off -- and Fourté left empty-handed.

"Honestly, I wasn't even going to get the chicken sandwich," Fourté said.

When police arrived on scene, they determined no weapons were involved -- and no arrests were made. It is unclear what sparked the altercation.

Statement from Popeye’s franchise owner