by Authorities in Illinois say that a McDonald’s manager shot the mother of a teenage worker who “refused to take the trash out” during her shift and then called her mom after being told to “clock out and go home,” according to the police.
Authorities say that 44-year-old Kathy Bledsoe pulled out a gun and shot 35-year-old Tynika R. McKinzie during a fight at a Belleville McDonald’s on Wednesday. The fight also led to the shooting of a second person. McKinzie is also being charged with assault for allegedly hitting Bledsoe in the face and head that night before getting hit in the leg.
As a result of the investigation, the Belleville Police Department said in a press release Friday that the first fight started when Kathy M. Bledsoe, the manager on duty, asked a young female worker to take the trash to the dumpster. “The manager told the young girl to clock out and go home because she wouldn’t take out the trash.” The girl called her mom, Tynika R. McKinzie, and she and another girl called another girl to the store.
Around 4:45 p.m., police were called to the McDonald’s at 125 South Belt East. During their investigation, they found that McKinzie and her daughter went behind the front counter and “proceeded 75 feet beyond the counter” to the back office area of the fast food restaurant before attacking Bledsoe.
Bledsoe is said to have “produced a handgun” and fired one round into McKinzie’s leg during the fight. She was arrested at the scene, and McKinzie was taken to a nearby hospital to get medical care.
“It seems individuals are quick to resort to violence to resolve disputes without consideration of the impact their actions have on the community as a whole,” BPD staff said Friday. No need for punches or guns in this situation. It could have been handled better without them.” BPD will keep working with people in the community to make sure that people who choose to settle their differences in this way are held responsible.
It was planned that Bledsoe would be taken to the St. Clair County Jail on Friday until his detention hearing. This arrest comes just a few days after a 26-year-old McDonald’s worker in Michigan was charged with killing her manager by stabbing the 39-year-old mother to death after a verbal argument that ended with the victim sending the suspect home early.
