Inset: Kathy Bledsoe (Belleville Police Department). Background: The McDonald’s at 125 South Belt East in Belleville, Ill., where Kathy Bledsoe allegedly shot two people, including the mother of a teen worker (KMOV/YouTube).
A McDonald’s manager in Illinois allegedly shot the mother of a teenage employee who “refused to take the trash out” during her shift and then called her mom after she was told to “clock out and go home,” cops say.
Kathy Bledsoe, 44, is accused of pulling a handgun on Tynika R. McKinzie, 35, and shooting her during an altercation that also resulted in a second person being shot at a McDonald’s in Belleville on Wednesday, according to local police. McKinzie is also facing criminal charges for allegedly attacking Bledsoe that evening and striking her in the face and head before getting blasted in the leg.
“During the investigation, it was determined that the initial dispute began when the manager on duty, Kathy M. Bledsoe, asked an employee, a juvenile female, to take the trash to the dumpster,” the Belleville Police Department said in a press release Friday. “The juvenile refused to take the trash out, and the manager told her to clock out and go home. The juvenile contacted her mother, Tynika R. McKinzie, who responded to the store with another juvenile female.”
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Authorities were called to the McDonald’s at 125 South Belt East at around 4:45 p.m. and learned during an investigation that McKinzie and her daughter went behind the front counter and “proceeded 75 feet beyond the counter” to the fast-food joint’s office area in the back before setting upon Bledsoe, BPD officials report.
During the altercation, Bledsoe allegedly “produced a handgun” and fired a single round into McKinzie’s leg. She was taken into custody at the scene and McKinzie was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment.
“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 officials said Friday. “This was an unnecessary incident that could have been mitigated without punches being thrown or a gun being used. BPD will continue to work with community members to ensure individuals who wish to handle disputes in this manner are held accountable.”
Bledsoe was slated to be moved to the St. Clair County Jail on Friday pending a detention hearing. Her arrest comes just days after a 26-year-old McDonald’s employee in Michigan was arrested after she allegedly killed her manager, stabbing the 39-year-old mother to death after the two had a verbal dispute that ended with the victim sending the suspect home early.
