Eugene Thomas King, who once held Paula Deen at gunpoint, found dead

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Eugene Thomas King Jr., the man who robbed a bank in 1987 and held a gun to Paula Deen’s head during the crime, has passed away.

According to his family, he was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment on Thursday. Authorities haven’t yet revealed how he died.

When the robbery happened, Deen was a bank teller. The scary experience didn’t become well-known until much later, after she became famous.

The story came up again in 2013 during a legal case filed by a previous employee of the restaurant. While giving a sworn statement, Deen talked about the robbery and confessed she had used a racial slur when describing the upsetting experience.

In an interview with Inside Edition, King expressed sympathy, stating that she believed the person was being unfairly criticized for a single error in judgment.

‘She was acting out of anger.’

In a 1987 statement to the police, he said he was sorry and explained that he never meant to cause harm, saying, ‘Please tell her I’m sorry, but I never intended to hurt anyone.’

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2026-03-02 00:05