White Castle manager killed during attempted robbery was a 'powerful force'

Bethany Bruner
The Columbus Dispatch
Columbus police are investigating a homicide at a West Side White Castle.

A beloved manager at a White Castle restaurant on the West Side who recently had been recognized for her charity fundraising was fatally shot Friday morning, and another employee wounded, after a man attempted to rob the restaurant.

Amanda Rush, 30, of the Far West Side, had worked at White Castle since 2006 and had been general manager of the restaurant at 3540 W. Broad St. for two years, Vice President Jamie Richardson said. Rush recently had been recognized inside the Columbus-based company for her fundraising for Autism Speaks.

"Our hearts are breaking," Richardson said. "There's no words that can describe the hurt." 

Rush and another employee were both shot during an attempted robbery of the restaurant by a man who walked in around 6 a.m. Friday morning. Rush died at the scene.

Her death is the city's 133rd homicide of 2020.

Amanda Rush, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene following a shooting at a West Side White Castle.

The other employee, 57-year-old Timothy Mathies, of the South Side, was hospitalized with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.

A third person, a 37-year-old woman, reported that her vehicle was shot at while driving on West Broad Street. She was not hurt.

The suspect was later identified by police as 29-year-old Mark Reynolds, of the Northeast Side. Reynolds has been charged with murder. 

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Rush was the type of manager who knew her regular customers' cars and orders, having them ready at the window when she'd see them coming, Richardson said. She also had bins of decorations for each holiday to use on the interior of the restaurant. 

"She was one of those powerful forces," Richardson said. "She made her Castle her home for her employees and her customers."

Sgt. James Fuqua said police believe Reynolds, the suspected gunman, had been committing crimes from about 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. Friday across the West Side, hitting at least two gas stations, a trucking business and a bank in addition to the restaurant. 

Calls from employees inside the White Castle indicated some people had locked themselves inside a freezer inside the restaurant. 

One caller who was in the drive-thru at the time said he was told by an employee through the loudspeaker that there had been a shooting and called police. An employee inside called and said employees had hidden in the freezer when the shots were fired. 

A short time later, police received phone calls about a man attempting to rob the Certified gas station at 3204 W. Broad St. 

An employee of the gas station who called 911 said the suspect came inside waving a gun and appeared to be bleeding and under the influence of narcotics.

"He just ran everybody out of the store," the caller said. She and another employee were hiding in the office. 

On the background of the call, Columbus police officers can be heard entering the store and confronting the suspect, who dropped his gun outside the door of a bathroom in the convenience store and locked himself inside. The officers are heard yelling at the suspect to open the door and put his hands up. 

Witness statements provided by 911 callers at both scenes led officers to identify him as the suspect in both incidents. 

Officers arrived and quickly determined the suspect in that robbery matched witness descriptions of the shooter at White Castle. The suspect barricaded himself inside a bathroom inside the gas station's convenience store for about an hour before officers were able to take him into custody without further incident. 

Witnesses who had been inside the White Castle and fled had returned to the scene and talked with police, providing them with the suspect description that helped officers identify the suspect in all the incidents as being the same person. 

Some of those witnesses and members of Rush's family gathered in the White Castle parking lot Friday morning as detectives continued to work to piece together all the events of the morning. 

Richardson said White Castle will be offering counseling to employees and others who knew Rush. 

"We want to give them a big hug, pandemic or not, and tell them we love them," he said.

Rush's impact will be felt for a long time by White Castle, her coworkers and those customers who knew her, but the greatest loss will be felt by her family, Richardson said. 

"It's beyond wrong," he said. "We will never forget her."