Unidentified man found dead in kitchen HVAC vent at Atlanta restaurant

An unidentified man was found dead on Monday morning wedged through a kitchen HVAC vent at Walter’s Soul Food Cafe in southwest Atlanta.

Emergency personnel were dispatched to the restaurant at 394 Cleveland Avenue SW shortly before 9 a.m. on Monday, following a call logged at approximately 8:58 a.m., as first reported by 11 Alive.

Witnesses told police they observed the man’s head, arms and torso extending from the vent located over the kitchen’s frying area.

“All we seen was his head,” a restaurant worker told ABC affiliate WSB-TV. “That’s all. His head and his arms.”

Another employee, a cook, told reporters that a female colleague first spotted the person upon arriving for work.

“She came in and was hollering and screaming and telling me, ‘Rick! Look, look, look,’” the cook recalled, adding, “All you seen was his head.”

The restaurant’s owner reportedly told responding officers that a staff member first discovered the man stuck inside the kitchen vent. Atlanta Fire Rescue personnel also responded to the location and pronounced the person dead at the scene.

Investigators stated that there were no immediate indications of foul play. Personnel from the Atlanta Police Department’s Homicide Unit and Crime Scene Unit deployed to the site with the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Arriving customers found the establishment locked late Monday morning.

“I don’t even know how you can get on the roof,” one customer told reporters.

A nearby gas station sits on an elevated slope, making the roof accessible, and police used a ladder to reach the top of the building.

“That’s weird to break in,” another person at the scene said. “To do what? There’s not even any food made yet.”

The cause and manner of death are pending an investigation by the medical examiner. Family members arrived at the scene later in the day and told police they believed the man was their relative.