Taste Of Italy Owner Clashes With Upstate New York High School Shooter

The drama regarding an Upstate New York restaurant's racist rant has taken another wild turn.

A protester says he was pepper-sprayed by one of the owners of Taste of Italy.

Upstate New York Restaurant Drama Takes Another Wild Turn

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On Sunday, a Facebook account named "Jonseekingpeace" alleged that one of the restaurant's owners, Alyssa Cappello, "pepper sprayed" him and ripped a sign out of his hands while he was protesting outside of the eatery.

Taste of Italy in Latham, New York, closed down last week following a racist Facebook post. The eatery quietly and quickly reopened.

Cappello took responsibility for the Facebook post, saying she thought she was writing from a "burner account" and not the eatery's official Facebook page.

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The post was regarding the death of a missing 7-year-old. The non-verbal and autistic boy was found days later dead in a pool in the Capital Region.

"Let's not forget if that boy lived in a Muslim country his Muslim family would have killed him a long time ago. Muslims should go back to their 50 plus Muslims countries. They want to bring their horrific fake religion here. It's not a religion it's a terrorist organization. No Muslim should be in any place of Authority in America," Taste of Italy wrote after news of the boy's death was confirmed.

Alyssa told CBS 6 she did use pepper spray at the protester but said it didn't make contact with him. She added the sign was thrown at her.

Protester Identified as 2004 Columbia High School Shooter

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CBS 6 identified the protester as "Jon Romano, the 2004 Columbia High School shooter."

On Feb. 9, 2004, Romano entered his high school with a 12-gauge shotgun and fired three shots. He wounded a special education teacher in the leg before being tackled and disarmed by an assistant principal.

He was 16 at the time and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released after serving around 15 years in prison in December 2020 due to good behavior.

Since his release, he's been speaking at law enforcement and school safety conferences, sharing his story to help officials recognize the warning signs of youth in crisis.

He's also built a large social media following, sharing his remorse for the shooting while trying to steer at-risk youth away from violence.

Romano recently said on Facebook he was "hesitant" after being approached to start speaking out about the warning signs of youth in crisis but says he's "connected with so many people who are in a dark place" and has been "able to prevent a lot of horrible things from happening."

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