A disgraced attorney who walked into a packed Toledo restaurant on opening night, pointed a loaded Colt at his ex-wife’s face and pulled the trigger is headed to prison because he forgot the oldest rule in the book: take the safety off.
Matthew Exton, 43, was convicted last week of attempted murder and two counts of felonious assault after a Lucas County jury watched the surveillance tape that has now gone viral: the former divorce lawyer advancing on Kayda Valone’s table, extending the gun, and then staring at it in visible frustration when nothing happened.
The waiter didn’t wait.
Tracy Cole Jr. slammed into Exton from behind before the would-be shooter could fiddle with the safety a second time. Other diners and staff piled on. Cole later testified he grabbed the gun and even considered using it if Exton kept fighting. Prosecutors called him a hero who saved at least three lives. The internet agrees: the waiter deserves a raise.
April 11, 2025, was supposed to be a celebration. Sabira, a new Warehouse District spot at 139 S. Huron St., was marking its official opening. Valone was there with her parents, Charles and Jeanne. Exton had already been next door at Souk, ordered a bourbon, then wandered in, sent a drink to their table, and spat toward them on the way out. He came back armed.
The gun had a round in the chamber and seven more in the magazine. Valone testified it was aimed at her face, finger on the trigger. “I yelled ‘Gun!’ over and over because I knew I was dead,” she told the jury. Her mother said she was “100-percent sure the three of us were going to die.”
Exton, whose Ohio law license was yanked months after the incident, took the stand and claimed he only wanted to scare her into selling their old Michigan house so he could get his cut. He admitted pointing the gun at her face. The jury didn’t buy the “just a dramatic conversation” defense. They convicted him of attempted murder and assault on Valone and her mother, but acquitted him on the count involving her father. Sentencing is set for Sept. 21. He faces up to 25 years.
Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates didn’t mince words: Exton didn’t come for dinner. “He came with anger in him and with the intention to commit a public execution of his ex-wife.”
The video circulating this week captures the whole ugly sequence — the calm dining room, the sudden panic, chairs flying, people tackling a man on the floor near the window. One thing it doesn’t show is a shot fired. For that, thank a safety switch and a waiter who didn’t freeze.
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