Charges were pending Friday against an Omaha, Neb., man arrested after what Lawrence Police described as a drive-by shooting outside Perkins Restaurant, 1711 W. 23rd St.

A police officer who was in the area shortly after 3 a.m. when the incident occurred reported hearing about a dozen gunshots, Sgt. Richard Nickell said.

The shooting erupted when two vehicles pulled into the restaurant parking lot and a heated verbal exchange took place among the people in the vehicles and people in the parking lot, Nickell said.

The driver of one of the vehicles pulled a pistol and fired several shots, Nickell said. The two vehicles then were driven away, but one returned moments later.

A passenger stepped from the vehicle and fired more shots, Nickell said.

“It appeared the shots were fired at random and into the ground,” Nickell said.

The vehicle then left the area again. Several people were in the lot at the time of the shootings.

Police began looking for two dark, “Suburban-type” vehicles leaving the scene at a high rate of speed. A Kansas University Public Safety officer spotted one of the vehicles going north on Iowa Street at 19th Street, KU Lt. Schuyler Bailey said.

The officer called Lawrence Police and followed the vehicle. Police stopped the vehicle in the 200 block of McDonald Drive. The driver was arrested and taken to the Douglas County Jail.Three vehicles in the Perkins lot were damaged by flying bullets, Nickell said.

An investigation was continuing late Friday.