One theory amongst friends of the victims (I saw it in the first Washington Post article on the story) was that they left the money on the table instead of taking it up to the cashier as is the practice at IHOP. It sounded like that was just a rumour though.

Yeah, that sounds like sensationalist BS. As far as the actual news article goes, how sad. Drugs/Alcohol and guns spell disaster almost anyway you mix them.

So much for free pancakes at IHOP. I guess there is nosuch thing as a free lunch. Note the person doing the shooting was an off duty cop who worked security for IHOP.

I feel badly for the family of the dead person, but perhaps next time his friends will pay for dinner before leaving. The off-duty cop was being paid by the restaurant for a reason; perhaps that particular IHOP has had a prolem with "skips" in the past. Expect a huge lawsuit momentarily. Most civilians have no idea how quickly a situation can spiral out of control when adrenaline starts pumping through the veins of a police officer. Even good cops might be tempted to shoot at a fleeing vehicle; it's probably best (and safest) to simply obey the law and let discretion be the better part of valor.

What was an off-duty cop carrying a gun for? Did IHOP really require their security guards to carry deadly force? For what?? Armed and dangerous flapjacks?

Why not just get the license plate number and call his buddy real cops? This situation is rediclous, he killed someone over a 45$ IHOP bill? I bet the coffee was cold. What the fuck?!?