WASHINGTON — A man has been arrested in the shooting of D.C. restaurant manager Christian Broder, but for coworkers it’s an emotional struggle to understand why he was shot.
Broder, the general manager of Millie’s in Northwest D.C., was waiting for an Uber with three others after attending a country club wedding on July 8. They thought their ride had pulled up, but they were robbed instead and Broder ended up being shot in the abdomen.
Jayden Myrick, 17, was arrested by the Atlanta Police Department and faces a slew of charges in connection with the crime.
The struggle to understand is real.
Muzlina Casey, one of Millie’s managers, said the restaurant’s leadership is, “just trying to keep everybody together. And also the daily operations have to go on. With our brokenness, life must go on.”
Casey spoke glowingly about Broder during a lull in their usually busy Sunday Brunch which had extra bustle because of the FIFA World Cup championship game.
“He’s a genuinely, sincerely, authentically good person,” Casey said, noting that she’s known Broder about one year.
“It’s kind of like the moment you see him without even him speaking to you—you’re like ‘this is a good dude’. It’s not being corny or cliché about it, but that’s what it is,” she said.
Casey said that when something like this happens to “somebody like that in your community, in your life, in your tribe, in your group, it touches the heart and our spirit to the core.”
Broder remains in critical condition, but Casey sounded hopeful about his medical progress. She believes there’s more that life has in store for him.
“He has kind of like an old soul,” Casey said.
Broder is 34, but “he presents himself as if he’s lived here a long time,” she said. “His work, it’s not done yet. He’s got a lot to do.”
