A Mississippi grocery chain has fired an employee after a black couple said the employee used the N-word against them while they were shopping in the store.

A statement from Froogel’s, which owns several grocery stores on the Mississippi gulf coast, said the employee was terminated after an internal investigation.

The grocery store chain posted the statement on its Facebook page.

“As a result of the investigation which was concluded today, the employee who was involved in the verbal altercation with the Froogel’s customer on March 5, 2021 has been terminated effective immediately,” the statement signed by owner Paul Durnin Jr. said.

Kimiyatta May and her fiance Bobby Anderson said they were shopping for meat on March 5 at one of the chain’s Gulfport locations when a meat counter employee used the racial slur in front of them. The couple posted their accusations on a Facebook Live video. The video has gone viral and attracted attention from members of Black Lives Matter Mississippi and other concerned citizens who have been protesting outside the store since Sunday.

The statement from the grocery store did not mention the use of a racial slur by the employee, only referring the incident as a “verbal altercation.”