OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Three teenage McDonald’s employees in Oklahoma City suffered gunshot wounds when a customer opened fire because she was angry that the restaurant’s dining area was closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, police said Thursday.
Gloricia Woody, 32, was in custody after the Wednesday night shooting on four counts of assault and battery with a deadly weapon, said police Capt. Larry Withrow.
It was not known if Woody, whose name is spelled Glorica in jail records, has an attorney, Withrow said.
“That is absolutely the same person,” Withrow said, despite the different spellings of the first name.
Woody entered the restaurant’s lobby and was told the dining room was closed for safety reasons, Withrow said.
“(Woody) was asked to leave but refused,” leading to a physical altercation between Woody and an 18-year-old female employee,” according to Withrow.
“The suspect was forced out of the restaurant by employees. She reentered the restaurant with a handgun and fired approximately three rounds in the restaurant,” Withrow said.
A 16-year-old male employee was shot in the arm, another 16-year-old male suffered a shrapnel wound in the shoulder area and an 18-year-old male was struck in the side by shrapnel. The employee who fought with Woody suffered a head injury during the altercation, police said.
Police initially said two employees were struck by gunfire.
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the employees were expected to make a full recovery.
The shooting comes amid tensions over restrictions because of efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic, as well as how people are responding to ongoing efforts to reopen portions of the United States shut down by the virus.
“What you’re seeing in this situation is really what you’re seeing in a variety of situations across the country, which is this tension about opening and people’s concern about it,” he said. “But there’s absolutely no excuse for violence, particularly gun violence, so I’m just happy that our people are going to be OK.”
Tensions have escalated into violence elsewhere in the country, including four people charged in last week’s fatal shooting of a security guard who refused to let her daughter enter a Family Dollar in Flint, Michigan, because she wasn’t wearing a face mask to protect against transmission of the coronavirus.
