FORT WORTH, Texas — Hundreds of thousands of people have viewed a viral video from a Fort Worth Torchy's Tacos restaurant that shows a group of men wearing Nazi paraphernalia.
Jessica Gregorio said she was at lunch when she noticed the men enter the restaurant and began recording them.
"Several of them were wearing Order of the Black Sun T-shirts, which I had looked up in the moment because I wasn't sure exactly what that was," Gregorio said. "But I had a feeling based on all of the attire."
Still, she thought, just maybe, their attire could be for Halloween. As she and her mother looked closer at the group, though, she said her mom noticed some of them wearing chains with swastikas.
"I was pretty verbal with my mom about being very uncomfortable and upset, seeing that at the restaurant that we were eating at," said Gregorio. "I was probably making them uncomfortable by staring at them."
Her cellphone video shows a swastika on the arm of one person in the restaurant, and on the backpack of another person in the same group.
Gregorio said, in that moment, she spoke out loud to let the group know she was going to record them.
"They didn't seem fazed when I was taping them," Gregorio said. "Once the recording stopped is when one gentleman went 'white power' as he was walking past our table -- and me and him did exchange words."
During their confrontation, Gregorio shared, she became emotional and even cried tears. But she also said she refused to stay silent. She believes there were close to a dozen people among the group.
After that exchange of words, the group lefy Torchy's, Gregorio said. But some of them returned to buy more food.
WFAA received a statement about the incident from the public relations team for Torchy's Tacos. It reads, in part: "We do not stand for hate and do not support this group or any hate group. When the group tried to come back, they were not allowed. We will continue working closely with local authorities to ensure the safety of our guests and team members."
Torchy's Tacos spokesperson Morgan Hendrix told WFAA that the company is proud of how their employees handled the unexpected situation at their Fort Worth restaurant. Hendrix said the management team worked to deescalate the guests despite their unwelcomed behavior, which allegedly included chants about white supremacy in addition to their attire.
Gregorio, who is proud of her Jewish heritage, said she has zero tolerance for groups that spread hate.
"As far as the people who are dressed like that are concerned, obviously, it's just disgusting," Gregorio said. "As a Jew, I've been told a lot in my life that those people don't still exist, and this is my first time really seeing it in person and being able to prove, yes, it is alive and well."
It was not an isolated incident.
On Wednesday, employees at Fort Worth Botanic Garden confirmed to WFAA that they saw also people wearing similar clothing placing some 250 anti-Semitic flyers on windshields in their parking lot on Sunday.
And late Tuesday, WFAA received confirmation that an anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ group also stood outside the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas. That group also donned Nazi attire while visiting the outside of the church, which is a progressive and inclusive organization boasting one of the largest LGBTQ+ memberships in the country.
"They were basically saying 'Kill all Jews and gays," said Reverend Dr. Neil Thomas of Cathedral of Hope, who told WFAA that parishioners know not to engage with the group. "We have a message of hope and continue to be present and will not be intimidated by right-wing fascists."