Murder at McDonald's Read Online Free PDF

and Wood and a co-worker were asked to go down to the basement and open the black steel door outside the crew training room. It would be easier to carry the stock through that room and into the storage area than to lug it down the basement stairs. As Wood walked out that basement door for the first time, and found himself standing at the bottom of the driveway, the beginnings of a plan came to life.
    Wood floated the idea of robbing McDonald’s to MacNeil and Muise, and they seemed game. The three convinced themselves that as much as $200,000 could be sitting in the old black safe in the upstairs office. All they had to do was get inside the building, and Wood’s discovery was the answer to that dilemma—he would just leave the basement door open, and they could slip inside, unnoticed by anyone in the kitchen. Nobody ever used that door unless the conveyor belt broke down. The door also presented a problem, however. If they could get in that way, then employees could run out the same way during the robbery. The trio decided they needed a fourth person in order to make the job foolproof. Freeman MacNeil would drive the car and be ready for a quick escape; Derek Wood was to be responsible for opening the basement door and letting Darren Muise inside. The fourth robber would remain at the door, and if people tried to escape, he could club them into unconsciousness.
    It was strange that clubbing innocent people was seen as part of the initial plan. Wood, MacNeil, and Muise had not been particularly violent young adults, but now they were clearly willing to use force. Both Muise and MacNeil had considerable martial-arts skills; but only MacNeil had any history of physical confrontation. He had been convicted and given a discharge after charges were brought against him when he pushed another youth outside Riverview Rural High School. MacNeil had a reputation among some students as a bit of a bully. He was big and strong—over six feet tall and about two hundred pounds—and he liked to show it. But even the smaller students whom he would hang upside down by their ankles did not think he was anything more than a schoolyard bully with a stupid sense of humour.
    As they drove around Sydney in late April 1992, the three hoped violence wouldn’t be necessary but felt they’d better take precautions. MacNeil decided he would take a gun from his girlfriend Michelle’s father—a .22-calibre pistol, kept in a top dresser drawer in his room. It wouldn’t be missed. MacNeil had even practised with the gun one time, on a secluded beach. He and two friends were out on a Sunday afternoon, and Freeman took the gun from the trunk of the car and fired seven shots at some bottles he had placed a few metres away. He missed with all seven shots. But the gun wasn’t going to be necessary, anyway. If the robbery went according to plan, the real weapons would be Darren Muise’s fists and feet. Muise had a black belt in tae kwon do and had achieved notable success in tournaments; he even taught the sport to children. Freeman MacNeil also had more than modest skills as a martial artist—he claimed to have broken an opponent’s arm during a judo tournament—but in the early planning he was going to be the wheel man. MacNeil’s size probably made him a better choice as the “enforcer,” but he was the only one with access to a car. Muise would wear a Hallowe’en mask, and once inside the basement he would subdue any employees up in the kitchen. Once they were out of the way, Derek Wood could run upstairs and open the safe. He thought he knew most of the combination, and if he didn’t, well, Muise could always force the shift manager to open the safe.
    The trio had set out to commit the robbery on April 30, but the fourth participant, whom they’d asked to guard the basement door, did not show up. They quickly retreated to the coffee shop where they’d done much of their