A Florida man was arrested for murder Saturday after allegedly assaulting a couple in a Kentucky hotel parking lot and then shooting and killing an employee, according to the McCracken County Sheriff’s Office.
In addition to first degree murder, Robert Pannell, 55, was also charged with assault, wanton endangerment, disorderly conduct, threats and resisting arrest.
Law enforcement officers were called to a Best Western hotel in southwestern Kentucky about an active shooter at around 9:48 a.m. Saturday morning.
Robert Pannell, 55, allegedly opened fire at the Best Western hotel Saturday morning in Paducah, Kentucky, killing an employee. (McCracken County Sheriff’s Office)
A Paducah police officer located Pannell in the parking lot and took him into custody, while a sheriff’s deputy began searching the hotel and located the clerk on the first floor with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body.
NEBRASKA POLICE SHOOTING AND KILLING HEAVILY-ARMED MAN AT OMAHA TARGET
Detectives learned during the investigation that Pannell allegedly assaulted a couple in the parking lot after they failed to give him a lighter.
He then entered the hotel with a handgun and opened fire indiscriminately, according to the sheriff, leaving the clerk dead. No one else was hit by the shots.
The Best Western hotel in Paducah, Kentucky, where a man shot and killed an employee on Saturday. (Google Maps)
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Pannell is from Palm Coast, Florida, and was staying at the hotel at the time of the shooting.
He is being held at the McCracken County Jail on a combined $2.5 million bond, according to jail records.
