Widow: Gunman shot husband of 25 years over $5 costume necklace

Cynthia and Anthony Welch (Credit: Channel 2 Action News)

Cynthia and Anthony Welch (Credit: Channel 2 Action News)

Anthony and Cynthia Welch were just leaving a birthday dinner when a man shot both of them in the parking lot of a Marietta restaurant.

“We were holding hands going to the car,” Cynthia Welch told Channel 2 Action News, “and (the gunman) must have been in between the cars, because he came out of nowhere.”

The alleged shooter, described as tall with a dark complexion and slim face, ambushed the married couple of 25 years outside a Pappadeaux on Windy Hill Road on Friday night.

According to Channel 2, the man fired at Anthony first and snatched a $5 costume necklace from Cynthia’s neck before shooting at her.

“All I could see was the barrel of his gun pointed right at my face,” she said.

Cynthia looked down to see her husband dead on the ground, Channel 2 reported, as the gunman took off running.

Still bleeding, Cynthia ran back to the restaurant for help.

“People were coming out trying to console,” she told Channel 2. “I tried to get up and run back to my husband, but I was bleeding bad.”

Cynthia still has a bullet lodged under her arm, Channel 2 reported. Doctors will work to remove it at a later date.

Still, she said her husband didn’t have to die over a $5 necklace.

“He didn’t have to kill my husband, he didn’t have to shoot him,” she said.