Restaurants raising money to find bartender’s killer

Restaurants lost one of their own in John Henderson. Now they’re doing something to help police find his killers.

Sixty-one local restaurants are scheduled to participate in a “dine-out” on Wednesday to increase the reward offered for information on who shot and killed Henderson, a Grant Park bar worker who had deep roots in Atlanta’s restaurant community.

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John Henderson was shot to death Jan. 7 in a robbery at Standard Food & Spirits on Memorial Drive.

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• A list of restaurants participating in Wednesday's dine-out can be found at: http://www.atlantanstogether.org.

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Henderson, 27, was shot to death Jan. 7 in a closing-time robbery at Standard Food & Spirits, a popular hangout on Memorial Drive.

His murder remains unsolved.

As of Friday, the reward for tips leading to an arrest in Henderson’s murder stood at $22,045. The money will be paid to whoever provides information that leads to an arrest and court charges.

The largest-ever reward pot in Crime Stoppers’ two-year history is $27,500, for the January 2008 shooting deaths of DeKalb County police officers Eric Barker and Ricky Bryant.

Organizers of the Wednesday event are confident they will raise a record amount of reward money for Henderson’s murder.

“We will easily exceed that (2008) record, which I think will be a good thing,” said local restaurant owner Rich Chey, who helped organize the dine-out.

In the event, called “Dine Out for a Safer Atlanta,” participating restaurants are asked to donate 20 percent of their proceeds Wednesday to the Atlanta Police Foundation, the local nonprofit that runs the Crime Stoppers tipline. But any amount will be accepted, he said.

The event has other objectives, too, Chey said. One is to contribute to the grassroots movement to improve police services in Atlanta. Patrons will have the opportunity to sign a petition expressing dissatisfaction with public safety in the city.

“It’s also to send a message to the criminals, ‘Hey we’re not going to sit back and take it,’ ” Chey said. “We’re going to do something about it.”

In the coming days, Chey said he hopes to get 20 more restaurants involved. He has organized several other events, including one after the tornado that swept through Atlanta in March 2008.