Imagine surviving the unimaginable. Bryant Archer, the lone survivor of the 1994 Popeyes shootings in Gadsden, Alabama, joins us to recount the chilling tale of the day that forever changed the lives of many. His narrative not only paints a haunting picture of the events but also offers a humanizing glimpse into his relationships with his late colleagues, including his manager Darrell Collier, and the normalcy that preceded the tragedy. Bryant's voice brings us closer to understanding the complex emotions and the raw struggle for survival he faced on that fateful night, providing a powerful tribute to the resilience of the human spirit.
Beyond the nightmare lies a journey of healing and seeking justice—a path riddled with obstacles, from grappling with grief to dealing with the repercussions of having survived. Bryant's candid discussion of the days following the shootings exposes the harsh reality of navigating through the aftermath of violence, including the legal complexities and the unwanted attention that comes with such a high-profile case. His experience, marked by the need for police protection and the weight of public scrutiny, underscores the profound effects of tragedy on personal lives and communities. Join us as we peer into the heart of a man who, against all odds, continues to search for closure and peace.
Different types of audio/video may be available at:
www.murderinyourbackyard.com
www.youtube.com/@murderinyourbackyard
And
www.tiktok.com/@murderinyourback
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joseph Cramer (00:02):
I'm here today interviewing the only survivor,
Bryant Archer, in the 1994Popeyes shootings of Gadsden,
Alabama.
Bryant, how long did you workat Popeyes before the shooting?
I?
Bryant Archer (00:12):
worked there about four months.
Joseph Cramer (00:14):
Bryant, there were four of you working there
that night, including yourself.
Could you tell me a little moreabout your relationship with
store manager Darrell?
Bryant Archer (00:20):
Collier.
I only worked with him onenight.
I'd actually seen him inRainbow City several times at
the other store.
He was really nice.
I never had any issues with him.
Sadly, it was his only night toever work there, so he became
the manager there that night.
Joseph Cramer (00:42):
How would you describe your relationship with
assistant manager Tamika Collins?
Bryant Archer (00:48):
She was a couple grades ahead of me, so I was a
junior in high school then.
She was always really nice.
She never gave me any trouble.
She was always nice as far assmiling, never had any
complaints.
She was just a good person.
She never gave anybody anyissues.
Her family was really good too,because they'd come in a lot.
Joseph Cramer (01:11):
What about your relationship with co-worker
Nathaniel Baker?
Bryant Archer (01:14):
I went to school with him.
I had English with him.
Sadly, we got kicked out ofEnglish a lot.
I wasn't the nicest person inschool.
We'd put tacks and all kinds ofthings in her chair when she
sat down.
It didn't take a whole lot toget kicked out of English.
That's pretty much how thatplayed out.
Joseph Cramer (01:33):
Was everyone who worked that night scheduled to
be there?
Bryant Archer (01:35):
I believe so.
We had one lady that was infront.
I didn't know who she was realwell.
I think she had transferredfrom time when she was there,
but I didn't know her real well.
But everybody was scheduled tobe there.
Joseph Cramer (01:48):
I'm mainly asking this because there are some
conflicting issues about promand people swapping schedules at
that time.
Bryant Archer (01:59):
They did.
I actually was supposed to goto prom the night of the
shooting Ended up.
Things didn't work out and Iended up with a tux out of my
house and I was went to work torecoup my losses.
Joseph Cramer (02:08):
Now can you unfold that entire day leading
all the way up into the incident?
Bryant Archer (02:11):
I can.
I got there about four o'clock.
The power was out.
Power didn't turn back on toabout eight o'clock.
We didn't have any customersdue to the bad weather that we
had had.
Even the road in front of uswas flooded.
There was no passing traffic oranything like that.
There was no way to.
But the power was on.
(02:33):
We went ahead and cleaned upthe store and got ready for the
next day.
We officially closed at 1130.
Nathaniel went to the back withthe round trash from the back
and I went to the front and gotthe lobby trash trash from the
restrooms and I was going backthrough and when I came around
(02:54):
the corner, that's whenNathaniel was walking back but
the other two that was with himI didn't know.
Robert Bryant Nelson he was theactual shooter in this case
Prada.
He's got a real weird name.
I can only say his last name,but it's really weird.
(03:15):
He worked there about threeweeks so I knew who he was.
But as far as interacting withhim he didn't have a whole lot.
But as far as interacting withhim he didn't have a whole lot.
Mainly when I worked he was offand when I was off he worked.
So there really wasn't muchinteraction.
I seen him.
I seen them both with bandanason and he had a distinctive
(03:39):
haircut where his hair wasshaved up past his ears.
So we knew who he wasimmediately and I hate to say it
, but that's pretty much thereason why the shooting took
place, because we could identifyhim as I was coming around
(04:01):
there and I seen NathanielTameka.
Joseph Cramer (04:06):
Collins and.
Bryant Archer (04:06):
Daniel, I got it.
Darryl, darryl, collier camearound also.
They had the money to go in theoffice, so pretty much
everything just happened rightthen and there we all got put in
the office, the robbery tookplace, where the money went in
the bag, and then we gotescorted to the freezer and the
(04:26):
freezer shut.
I was the first one in and Ican't remember exactly who was
behind me, but all three camebehind me.
The door shut, I figured 15minutes later or whatever the
time frame was, they were goingto run off.
When the door shut, I went andsat on a crate and when I sat on
(04:51):
the crate the door reopened andthat's when I seen the muzzle
flash and I seen them go down.
But I didn't know exactly whattook place because I've never
seen anything like this before.
I didn't know they weredeceased.
When I something, when I gotshot, I went to go up to get
some beans out of a plastic bagthat was frozen to throw, and
when I went to go do that, I gothit in the left arm.
(05:13):
I went to try again and I gothit in the shoulder and I don't
remember trying to do it thethird time.
But I got hit in the neck andthen I could feel the sensation
of getting hit in the face, butI didn't know exactly what the
but it took my jaw and split itin half.
Top teeth were out, back teethwere out and it came out of the
(05:37):
side of my neck and the one inmy right arm is from where they
had shot one of the othercoworkers and it went through my
arm.
I seen them run off.
I got up sometime later.
I can't really determine whatthe time frame was, but I got up
and I stepped over my coworkers.
(05:58):
I didn't know if they wereinjured, I really didn't know
exactly.
I knew we needed to get help,so I went to the office and I
dialed 911.
And when I did, I slid down tothe floor and I put my feet out
of the office in case someonewas to come in and they could
see that I was there.
I heard the door.
(06:18):
I heard the police come.
I seen Billy Vassar and westarted talking back and forth.
I didn't know exactly what myinjuries were.
I really didn't know exactlywhat all the shooting had taken.
Luckily I didn't decease fromthis shooting.
He's talking to me.
(06:40):
I see the other police officerpass and that's when he seen
that the other co-workers arenot in the freezer.
Joseph Cramer (06:47):
And now, with all five of your senses, what did
you taste, feel, smell, see andhear during the sentencing?
Bryant Archer (06:52):
I could taste the , the iron from from the blood
in my mouth.
I could the what I could seeduring the shooting.
You could still smell thesulfur from where the gun had
(07:12):
went off and I didn't reallyfeel anything.
My adrenaline was up.
I didn't know exactly what todo.
I just knew that I needed toget help, and that's when the
police came in.
Joseph Cramer (07:26):
What do you feel was the overall motive of this
crime?
Bryant Archer (07:30):
They were going to rob us.
What I understood later is thathe was trying to get money to
get out of town, and both ofthem were done the robbery for
that purpose Before the crime?
Joseph Cramer (07:43):
do you know where they were set up or stationed?
To get into the building?
Bryant Archer (07:46):
Well, from what I understand, he had worked there
about three weeks and what Igather, he had learned
everything.
When the back door was open,when they'd done the drops in
the office, he was there and helearned everything.
The time frame when the garbagewas taken out, he pretty much
(08:07):
just was there to do the robbery.
Joseph Cramer (08:10):
And Brian, you were 17 when this happened.
Can you tell me how thisaffected your day to day, your
life, your family, your lovedones and your overall health?
Bryant Archer (08:18):
Well, I was going to join the military, so that
was going to be my way out oftown.
I'm not from Gadsden, I'm notfrom Alabama, I'm originally
from North Carolina.
The way I feel about it, I waswanting to get in the military,
to get out of here, and, withthe shooting taking place, that
didn't happen.
Joseph Cramer (08:38):
Now your other three co-workers were shot and
left inside of the freezer andyou were rushed to RMC.
Can you tell me about youroverall stay and what went on?
Bryant Archer (08:46):
When I got there I was in the ER and as I was
sitting there I could feel thetightening of my esophagus and I
couldn't get a nurse because Icouldn't speak.
But I started kicking my legs.
And when I kicked my legsthat's when they realized there
was something wrong and that'swhen I done the.
(09:08):
So they had to put a trach downmy throat.
I remember going through allthe x-rays and trying to figure
out what to do.
I had multiple surgeries.
Every time I'd have a surgeryI'd wake up ready for the next
one.
I had a bullet lodged in my backshoulder.
I had to have that removed.
(09:28):
Sadly it tore most of themuscles out of my shoulder.
When they went in to take thatI can't really feel a whole lot
in my shoulder anymore and whenI do it's pretty much the, the
ow.
Hey, that's not a good idea tomove around.
All the doctors and nurses Ihad were great.
(09:53):
I don't think they reallyunderstood kind of what happened
per se, but I did get goodtreatment at Gadgin Regional Of
course it's a different namenow- Was there anything going on
behind the scenes, so to speak,while you were inside of the
hospital?
Well, they put me up somewherewhere the news people couldn't
get to me.
With that being said, the newspeople would try everything they
(10:20):
could to get up into my room,trachs down my throat.
I can't talk to nobody.
I think they even tried to tellthem that and that still didn't
.
Still didn't do anything.
They still tried.
Um phone rang non-stop.
I find they finally cut thephone off.
The uh, I had a morphine drip.
(10:42):
Every time I'd see somebody,I'd just hit it, hit it and when
I'd wake up then I'd seesomebody else, and that's just
the way it was.
I was there seven days.
Every time I'd wake up by theseventh day I was ready to get
out.
I wasn't fully healed from theshooting from that point, but
(11:05):
the aggravation of people tryingto get to me and trying to do
things that I didn't reallyunderstand.
The hospital really couldn'thandle that kind of stuff.
So it was in my best interestto leave the hospital.
Joseph Cramer (11:21):
How did you feel about the sentence of execution
being handed down to RobertBront Nelson, and were you there
for those trials?
Bryant Archer (11:27):
I was there for the trial it was two years after
the shooting.
Parada's court case was donebeforehand and with Melson there
was a lot of stuff that wasbrought up that really didn't
(11:49):
make a whole lot of sense incourt.
They tried to make it to whereI hate to say that the way it
sounds, but they tried to makeit lesser than it was.
They tried to use every escapethey could to avoid the death
penalty and I understand thelegal part of it.
(12:11):
It's just when you see that andyou know what happened because
of what I've seen, and you knowwhat happened because of what
I've seen, I just don't the waythe legal system is set up.
It makes it look like thevictim or the survivor has no
more rights.
But the sad reality is we allhave the same rights, we just
(12:34):
don't use them, and his lawyersused everything they could to
try to get him out of it.
Joseph Cramer (12:40):
And what about the sentence of life in prison
for Pereira?
Do you think he actuallydeserved death?
Bryant Archer (12:48):
I believe if they would have gave him the death
penalty, there would be somebodyalive today.
He killed someone in prison.
Now he's on death row.
So in my opinion, if he wasgiven the proper sentence, that
person would most likely bealive today.
Joseph Cramer (13:03):
If you could give any advice to anyone that has
gone through the impact oflosing loved ones or co-workers
in a tragic way such as this,what advice would you give to
them?
Bryant Archer (13:11):
First off, you can't help what happens in your
life.
The best thing you can do iskeep living your life.
The best thing you can do iskeep living.
I know it's not easy, but thefact of the matter is you can't
just stop because something badhappens.
And, with that being said, ifyou're, if you're not being a
(13:31):
part of society, you're just notgoing to be going to be able to
deal with day-to-day life.
And that's what I do.
I live my life every day.
Every day I get up, every day Igo to bed.
If I'll get another day or aweek or a year, I'm going to
take it.
That's the best advice I cangive somebody is just you have
to keep going.
(13:56):
I still hear people all the timesay I won't eat at that
Popeye's because of whathappened there.
What are your thoughts on that?
I eat there when I go toGadsden.
Here's the reason why Popeyesdidn't have anything to do with
the shooting.
Now, there's things they couldhave done to make this not
happen, but at the end of theday, there's things that happen
every day that you could go backand try to figure out how to
(14:16):
solve it, and it's just notPopeyes isn't to blame in the
shooting.
There's a lot out how to solveit and it's just not Popeye's
isn't to blame in the shooting.
There's a lot of people thatsay they don't eat there.
Well, you can't hurt a businessbecause of this happening.
I myself go there and eat whenI'm in Gadsden.
So I go there because I knowwhat happened and I know that
(14:38):
the people who did this shootingthat's one thing they can't rob
me of of living my life and thefood's good.
Joseph Cramer (14:46):
As far as the shooting went, how do you think
they hid or were able to comeinside the?
Bryant Archer (14:49):
building.
I didn't know after, untilafter the shooting, exactly what
happened outside the building.
But there's a Walmart there now, but back then it was just a
city, a bunch of houses in theback with a sewer and a waterway
, and they parked their car onthe road and walked that
(15:09):
waterway trench to the back door.
Joseph Cramer (15:12):
Not since Freda has been locked up, he's been
able to post online.
Can you tell me a little moreabout that?
Bryant Archer (15:20):
I have called the prison several times over
issues of him having a cellphone.
People's like how can you get acell phone?
Well, if he can take a pictureand you can clearly see it's him
on there and the person that'sgot the cell phone images, you
can tell that things aren'tquite right there and we've had
to deal with that several times.
(15:40):
He's still.
He has sold his gel art online,which I haven't quite figured
that out.
You can watch TV and Cheetoswhile I'm paying for the
prescription cost of having andeverything else from the
shooting, but you're sittingthere eating Cheetos watching TV
Doesn't make a whole lot ofsense to me.
Joseph Cramer (15:59):
Now, prego was originally given the sentence of
life, which has now beencharged to death.
What are your thoughts on this?
Bryant Archer (16:04):
I'm probably not going to get to see his
execution because he had killedsomeone else in prison.
That's probably not going tohappen because it's a totally
different outcome for why he'sin there, but I'd like to see
him.
I didn't see Melson because Ihad young kids.
(16:25):
We went on vacation during thattime frame to get away from
Gadsden and luckily we did,because it became a circus
Trying to find me, callingphones, calling all my family
members trying to find us.
They even found us in PanamaCity, but luckily the news
(16:45):
reporter had got a conscienceand just didn't do the interview
.
Of course I wasn't wanting todo anything per se because I had
my family with me.
I ended up letting my sistertake the interviews while we
were gone.
Joseph Cramer (17:01):
Rob, we spoke a few times before we started this
interview and I remember yousaying that you had anti-death
people all over you.
Was that during Nelson's trials, or at what point was that
going on?
Bryant Archer (17:10):
Every time they'd do an appeal or there'd be
something in the paper or I'd doan interview.
It wouldn't be a day or sothey'd start coming.
They'd sit in front of ourhouse, they'd take signs.
They'd follow us aroundeverywhere we went, I'd have to
call the police.
I even had to get Troy King atthe time that was Attorney
(17:31):
General involved.
There was a lot of stuff thattook place that really was
unnecessary.
Joseph Cramer (17:37):
Sometime after the shooting you were gathered
up and put in a witnessprotection or something of that
nature.
Bryant Archer (17:41):
I wouldn't say witness protection per se, but
they did move me around.
Witness protection per se, butthey did move me around.
The people who done thisshooting was in a gang.
I really don't know a whole lotabout that.
I just know the city of Gadsdenhad to get involved and have us
moved.
Our house burned not even threedays after we moved out, so
(18:01):
they pretty much already knew inadvance that things weren't
weren't where they were supposedto be.
I ended up going to Lopalacafor a while, stayed with my aunt
.
That didn't stay long.
They eventually knew peoplefound us there.
So what I did was I went toNorth Carolina to stay with my
(18:25):
sister for a while, and thatdidn't last long.
They started coming there too.
We ended up moving over thereon South 11th Street after a
while with my mother, and itseemed like I had a police
officer sleeping on my couchpretty much every night.
Joseph Cramer (18:43):
At that time, while you were in hiding, so to
speak, were you afraid that theywere going to come find you?
Or lurking in the distance?
Not per se.
Bryant Archer (18:51):
I just knew that every time we'd have to go
somewhere we'd have to have apolice escort To me.
I'd rather kept it low-key andjust went on about my business.
But the two years before we hadtrial it was a circus.
Everybody was trying to get hisnews story, everybody was
trying to know what washappening and didn't know who
(19:11):
was coming to the house.
So pretty much we had to havethat.
Joseph Cramer (19:16):
That is all I have at this time.
Thank you much for theinterview.
I'm here today interviewing the only survivor,
Bryant Archer, in the 1994Popeyes shootings of Gadsden,
Alabama.
Bryant, how long did you workat Popeyes before the shooting?
I?
Bryant Archer (00:12):
worked there about four months.
Joseph Cramer (00:14):
Bryant, there were four of you working there
that night, including yourself.
Could you tell me a little moreabout your relationship with
store manager Darrell?
Bryant Archer (00:20):
Collier.
I only worked with him onenight.
I'd actually seen him inRainbow City several times at
the other store.
He was really nice.
I never had any issues with him.
Sadly, it was his only night toever work there, so he became
the manager there that night.
Joseph Cramer (00:42):
How would you describe your relationship with
assistant manager Tamika Collins?
Bryant Archer (00:48):
She was a couple grades ahead of me, so I was a
junior in high school then.
She was always really nice.
She never gave me any trouble.
She was always nice as far assmiling, never had any
complaints.
She was just a good person.
She never gave anybody anyissues.
Her family was really good too,because they'd come in a lot.
Joseph Cramer (01:11):
What about your relationship with co-worker
Nathaniel Baker?
Bryant Archer (01:14):
I went to school with him.
I had English with him.
Sadly, we got kicked out ofEnglish a lot.
I wasn't the nicest person inschool.
We'd put tacks and all kinds ofthings in her chair when she
sat down.
It didn't take a whole lot toget kicked out of English.
That's pretty much how thatplayed out.
Joseph Cramer (01:33):
Was everyone who worked that night scheduled to
be there?
Bryant Archer (01:35):
I believe so.
We had one lady that was infront.
I didn't know who she was realwell.
I think she had transferredfrom time when she was there,
but I didn't know her real well.
But everybody was scheduled tobe there.
Joseph Cramer (01:48):
I'm mainly asking this because there are some
conflicting issues about promand people swapping schedules at
that time.
Bryant Archer (01:59):
They did.
I actually was supposed to goto prom the night of the
shooting Ended up.
Things didn't work out and Iended up with a tux out of my
house and I was went to work torecoup my losses.
Joseph Cramer (02:08):
Now can you unfold that entire day leading
all the way up into the incident?
Bryant Archer (02:11):
I can.
I got there about four o'clock.
The power was out.
Power didn't turn back on toabout eight o'clock.
We didn't have any customersdue to the bad weather that we
had had.
Even the road in front of uswas flooded.
There was no passing traffic oranything like that.
There was no way to.
But the power was on.
(02:33):
We went ahead and cleaned upthe store and got ready for the
next day.
We officially closed at 1130.
Nathaniel went to the back withthe round trash from the back
and I went to the front and gotthe lobby trash trash from the
restrooms and I was going backthrough and when I came around
(02:54):
the corner, that's whenNathaniel was walking back but
the other two that was with himI didn't know.
Robert Bryant Nelson he was theactual shooter in this case
Prada.
He's got a real weird name.
I can only say his last name,but it's really weird.
(03:15):
He worked there about threeweeks so I knew who he was.
But as far as interacting withhim he didn't have a whole lot.
But as far as interacting withhim he didn't have a whole lot.
Mainly when I worked he was offand when I was off he worked.
So there really wasn't muchinteraction.
I seen him.
I seen them both with bandanason and he had a distinctive
(03:39):
haircut where his hair wasshaved up past his ears.
So we knew who he wasimmediately and I hate to say it
, but that's pretty much thereason why the shooting took
place, because we could identifyhim as I was coming around
(04:01):
there and I seen NathanielTameka.
Joseph Cramer (04:06):
Collins and.
Bryant Archer (04:06):
Daniel, I got it.
Darryl, darryl, collier camearound also.
They had the money to go in theoffice, so pretty much
everything just happened rightthen and there we all got put in
the office, the robbery tookplace, where the money went in
the bag, and then we gotescorted to the freezer and the
(04:26):
freezer shut.
I was the first one in and Ican't remember exactly who was
behind me, but all three camebehind me.
The door shut, I figured 15minutes later or whatever the
time frame was, they were goingto run off.
When the door shut, I went andsat on a crate and when I sat on
(04:51):
the crate the door reopened andthat's when I seen the muzzle
flash and I seen them go down.
But I didn't know exactly whattook place because I've never
seen anything like this before.
I didn't know they weredeceased.
When I something, when I gotshot, I went to go up to get
some beans out of a plastic bagthat was frozen to throw, and
when I went to go do that, I gothit in the left arm.
(05:13):
I went to try again and I gothit in the shoulder and I don't
remember trying to do it thethird time.
But I got hit in the neck andthen I could feel the sensation
of getting hit in the face, butI didn't know exactly what the
but it took my jaw and split itin half.
Top teeth were out, back teethwere out and it came out of the
(05:37):
side of my neck and the one inmy right arm is from where they
had shot one of the othercoworkers and it went through my
arm.
I seen them run off.
I got up sometime later.
I can't really determine whatthe time frame was, but I got up
and I stepped over my coworkers.
(05:58):
I didn't know if they wereinjured, I really didn't know
exactly.
I knew we needed to get help,so I went to the office and I
dialed 911.
And when I did, I slid down tothe floor and I put my feet out
of the office in case someonewas to come in and they could
see that I was there.
I heard the door.
(06:18):
I heard the police come.
I seen Billy Vassar and westarted talking back and forth.
I didn't know exactly what myinjuries were.
I really didn't know exactlywhat all the shooting had taken.
Luckily I didn't decease fromthis shooting.
He's talking to me.
(06:40):
I see the other police officerpass and that's when he seen
that the other co-workers arenot in the freezer.
Joseph Cramer (06:47):
And now, with all five of your senses, what did
you taste, feel, smell, see andhear during the sentencing?
Bryant Archer (06:52):
I could taste the , the iron from from the blood
in my mouth.
I could the what I could seeduring the shooting.
You could still smell thesulfur from where the gun had
(07:12):
went off and I didn't reallyfeel anything.
My adrenaline was up.
I didn't know exactly what todo.
I just knew that I needed toget help, and that's when the
police came in.
Joseph Cramer (07:26):
What do you feel was the overall motive of this
crime?
Bryant Archer (07:30):
They were going to rob us.
What I understood later is thathe was trying to get money to
get out of town, and both ofthem were done the robbery for
that purpose Before the crime?
Joseph Cramer (07:43):
do you know where they were set up or stationed?
To get into the building?
Bryant Archer (07:46):
Well, from what I understand, he had worked there
about three weeks and what Igather, he had learned
everything.
When the back door was open,when they'd done the drops in
the office, he was there and helearned everything.
The time frame when the garbagewas taken out, he pretty much
(08:07):
just was there to do the robbery.
Joseph Cramer (08:10):
And Brian, you were 17 when this happened.
Can you tell me how thisaffected your day to day, your
life, your family, your lovedones and your overall health?
Bryant Archer (08:18):
Well, I was going to join the military, so that
was going to be my way out oftown.
I'm not from Gadsden, I'm notfrom Alabama, I'm originally
from North Carolina.
The way I feel about it, I waswanting to get in the military,
to get out of here, and, withthe shooting taking place, that
didn't happen.
Joseph Cramer (08:38):
Now your other three co-workers were shot and
left inside of the freezer andyou were rushed to RMC.
Can you tell me about youroverall stay and what went on?
Bryant Archer (08:46):
When I got there I was in the ER and as I was
sitting there I could feel thetightening of my esophagus and I
couldn't get a nurse because Icouldn't speak.
But I started kicking my legs.
And when I kicked my legsthat's when they realized there
was something wrong and that'swhen I done the.
(09:08):
So they had to put a trach downmy throat.
I remember going through allthe x-rays and trying to figure
out what to do.
I had multiple surgeries.
Every time I'd have a surgeryI'd wake up ready for the next
one.
I had a bullet lodged in my backshoulder.
I had to have that removed.
(09:28):
Sadly it tore most of themuscles out of my shoulder.
When they went in to take thatI can't really feel a whole lot
in my shoulder anymore and whenI do it's pretty much the, the
ow.
Hey, that's not a good idea tomove around.
All the doctors and nurses Ihad were great.
(09:53):
I don't think they reallyunderstood kind of what happened
per se, but I did get goodtreatment at Gadgin Regional Of
course it's a different namenow- Was there anything going on
behind the scenes, so to speak,while you were inside of the
hospital?
Well, they put me up somewherewhere the news people couldn't
get to me.
With that being said, the newspeople would try everything they
(10:20):
could to get up into my room,trachs down my throat.
I can't talk to nobody.
I think they even tried to tellthem that and that still didn't
.
Still didn't do anything.
They still tried.
Um phone rang non-stop.
I find they finally cut thephone off.
The uh, I had a morphine drip.
(10:42):
Every time I'd see somebody,I'd just hit it, hit it and when
I'd wake up then I'd seesomebody else, and that's just
the way it was.
I was there seven days.
Every time I'd wake up by theseventh day I was ready to get
out.
I wasn't fully healed from theshooting from that point, but
(11:05):
the aggravation of people tryingto get to me and trying to do
things that I didn't reallyunderstand.
The hospital really couldn'thandle that kind of stuff.
So it was in my best interestto leave the hospital.
Joseph Cramer (11:21):
How did you feel about the sentence of execution
being handed down to RobertBront Nelson, and were you there
for those trials?
Bryant Archer (11:27):
I was there for the trial it was two years after
the shooting.
Parada's court case was donebeforehand and with Melson there
was a lot of stuff that wasbrought up that really didn't
(11:49):
make a whole lot of sense incourt.
They tried to make it to whereI hate to say that the way it
sounds, but they tried to makeit lesser than it was.
They tried to use every escapethey could to avoid the death
penalty and I understand thelegal part of it.
(12:11):
It's just when you see that andyou know what happened because
of what I've seen, and you knowwhat happened because of what
I've seen, I just don't the waythe legal system is set up.
It makes it look like thevictim or the survivor has no
more rights.
But the sad reality is we allhave the same rights, we just
(12:34):
don't use them, and his lawyersused everything they could to
try to get him out of it.
Joseph Cramer (12:40):
And what about the sentence of life in prison
for Pereira?
Do you think he actuallydeserved death?
Bryant Archer (12:48):
I believe if they would have gave him the death
penalty, there would be somebodyalive today.
He killed someone in prison.
Now he's on death row.
So in my opinion, if he wasgiven the proper sentence, that
person would most likely bealive today.
Joseph Cramer (13:03):
If you could give any advice to anyone that has
gone through the impact oflosing loved ones or co-workers
in a tragic way such as this,what advice would you give to
them?
Bryant Archer (13:11):
First off, you can't help what happens in your
life.
The best thing you can do iskeep living your life.
The best thing you can do iskeep living.
I know it's not easy, but thefact of the matter is you can't
just stop because something badhappens.
And, with that being said, ifyou're, if you're not being a
(13:31):
part of society, you're just notgoing to be going to be able to
deal with day-to-day life.
And that's what I do.
I live my life every day.
Every day I get up, every day Igo to bed.
If I'll get another day or aweek or a year, I'm going to
take it.
That's the best advice I cangive somebody is just you have
to keep going.
(13:56):
I still hear people all the timesay I won't eat at that
Popeye's because of whathappened there.
What are your thoughts on that?
I eat there when I go toGadsden.
Here's the reason why Popeyesdidn't have anything to do with
the shooting.
Now, there's things they couldhave done to make this not
happen, but at the end of theday, there's things that happen
every day that you could go backand try to figure out how to
(14:16):
solve it, and it's just notPopeyes isn't to blame in the
shooting.
There's a lot out how to solveit and it's just not Popeye's
isn't to blame in the shooting.
There's a lot of people thatsay they don't eat there.
Well, you can't hurt a businessbecause of this happening.
I myself go there and eat whenI'm in Gadsden.
So I go there because I knowwhat happened and I know that
(14:38):
the people who did this shootingthat's one thing they can't rob
me of of living my life and thefood's good.
Joseph Cramer (14:46):
As far as the shooting went, how do you think
they hid or were able to comeinside the?
Bryant Archer (14:49):
building.
I didn't know after, untilafter the shooting, exactly what
happened outside the building.
But there's a Walmart there now, but back then it was just a
city, a bunch of houses in theback with a sewer and a waterway
, and they parked their car onthe road and walked that
(15:09):
waterway trench to the back door.
Joseph Cramer (15:12):
Not since Freda has been locked up, he's been
able to post online.
Can you tell me a little moreabout that?
Bryant Archer (15:20):
I have called the prison several times over
issues of him having a cellphone.
People's like how can you get acell phone?
Well, if he can take a pictureand you can clearly see it's him
on there and the person that'sgot the cell phone images, you
can tell that things aren'tquite right there and we've had
to deal with that several times.
(15:40):
He's still.
He has sold his gel art online,which I haven't quite figured
that out.
You can watch TV and Cheetoswhile I'm paying for the
prescription cost of having andeverything else from the
shooting, but you're sittingthere eating Cheetos watching TV
Doesn't make a whole lot ofsense to me.
Joseph Cramer (15:59):
Now, prego was originally given the sentence of
life, which has now beencharged to death.
What are your thoughts on this?
Bryant Archer (16:04):
I'm probably not going to get to see his
execution because he had killedsomeone else in prison.
That's probably not going tohappen because it's a totally
different outcome for why he'sin there, but I'd like to see
him.
I didn't see Melson because Ihad young kids.
(16:25):
We went on vacation during thattime frame to get away from
Gadsden and luckily we did,because it became a circus
Trying to find me, callingphones, calling all my family
members trying to find us.
They even found us in PanamaCity, but luckily the news
(16:45):
reporter had got a conscienceand just didn't do the interview
.
Of course I wasn't wanting todo anything per se because I had
my family with me.
I ended up letting my sistertake the interviews while we
were gone.
Joseph Cramer (17:01):
Rob, we spoke a few times before we started this
interview and I remember yousaying that you had anti-death
people all over you.
Was that during Nelson's trials, or at what point was that
going on?
Bryant Archer (17:10):
Every time they'd do an appeal or there'd be
something in the paper or I'd doan interview.
It wouldn't be a day or sothey'd start coming.
They'd sit in front of ourhouse, they'd take signs.
They'd follow us aroundeverywhere we went, I'd have to
call the police.
I even had to get Troy King atthe time that was Attorney
(17:31):
General involved.
There was a lot of stuff thattook place that really was
unnecessary.
Joseph Cramer (17:37):
Sometime after the shooting you were gathered
up and put in a witnessprotection or something of that
nature.
Bryant Archer (17:41):
I wouldn't say witness protection per se, but
they did move me around.
Witness protection per se, butthey did move me around.
The people who done thisshooting was in a gang.
I really don't know a whole lotabout that.
I just know the city of Gadsdenhad to get involved and have us
moved.
Our house burned not even threedays after we moved out, so
(18:01):
they pretty much already knew inadvance that things weren't
weren't where they were supposedto be.
I ended up going to Lopalacafor a while, stayed with my aunt
.
That didn't stay long.
They eventually knew peoplefound us there.
So what I did was I went toNorth Carolina to stay with my
(18:25):
sister for a while, and thatdidn't last long.
They started coming there too.
We ended up moving over thereon South 11th Street after a
while with my mother, and itseemed like I had a police
officer sleeping on my couchpretty much every night.
Joseph Cramer (18:43):
At that time, while you were in hiding, so to
speak, were you afraid that theywere going to come find you?
Or lurking in the distance?
Not per se.
Bryant Archer (18:51):
I just knew that every time we'd have to go
somewhere we'd have to have apolice escort To me.
I'd rather kept it low-key andjust went on about my business.
But the two years before we hadtrial it was a circus.
Everybody was trying to get hisnews story, everybody was
trying to know what washappening and didn't know who
(19:11):
was coming to the house.
So pretty much we had to havethat.
Joseph Cramer (19:16):
That is all I have at this time.
Thank you much for theinterview.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.