These customers were clearly not lovin’ it, and neither was this disgruntled McDonald’s employee.
A 22-year-old McDonald’s drive-thru employee in Florida has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after she allegedly fired two shots at customers who were unhappy with their order.
According to a statement released by the Lakeland Police Department, officers arrived at a McDonald’s on East Memorial Boulevard in Lakeland close to 1:00 a.m. on June 14 after receiving reports of a shooting.
“The dispute began in the drive through when the customers/Victims felt their order was incorrect. The employee Chassidy Gardner (age 22), argued with the customers at the drive through window. Gardner threw a drink at the customers as they were attempting to leaving. [sic] Two of the customers got out of their vehicle and opened the drive-through window to throw drinks at Gardner who then armed herself with a handgun,” police said.
Officers said that after the customers drove around the side of the fast-food restaurant, Gardner went outside — with her handgun — and kept arguing with the customers.
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Gardner would later confirm in a police affidavit that the weapon was her pink, blue and purple Glock.
“While still outside, Gardner fired her weapon as the vehicle was leaving the parking lot,” the Lakeland P.D. went on to state. She reportedly hit said customer’s car at least one time with a single bullet.
Gardner was detained at the Polk County Jail until June 15 when, according to public jail records, she was bailed out for $15,000.
An arrest affidavit for Gardner, meanwhile had the McDonald’s employee telling a slightly different tale, accusing the customers in the vehicle of starting a “verbal altercation” with her.
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Gardner told police when the people drove up to the window, one of the passengers escalated things by throwing a “slushie at her.” She noticed the customers parked by the entrance/exit of the fast food eatery before she says two women and one man got out of the car.
That’s when she proceeded to fire two “warning shots” at the customers in an effort to scare them off, but police said she couldn’t get her story straight when asked what prompted her to leave her post at the drive-thru and exit the McDonald’s after the altercation.
The franchisee of the Lakeland McDonald’s, Lanny Sumpter, told Law&Crime, that he was “shocked and disturbed” by Gardner’s actions.
“The safety and wellbeing of my customers and crew is paramount to me as a business owner, and I am shocked and disturbed by the actions of this employee,” Sumpter said. “Violence of any kind is never tolerated in my organization, and the employee has been terminated following a number of organizational policy violations. We will continue to work with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation.”
