ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- An Elizabethtown man, 27-year-old Joshua Ratliff, is charged with killing a co-worker Thursday night at a fast food restaurant.
Police are not saying what led to the shooting, but both the victim, 22-year-old Ryan Birse, and the suspect worked at a combined Taco Bell and KFC on Buffalo Creek Drive.
The restaurants remained closed Friday after the shooting.
“She called me and said they were up here shooting and everything. So I came up here to see what was going on. When I got in the parking lot, they said two employees got into it,” Marlon Scott told WDRB. His daughter was inside when it happened.
Police say Ratliff shot Birse in the back nine times.
“I don't know if he really ever saw what was coming his way. I cannot imagine mom and dad of this young man, what they are going through,” said Officer Virgil Willoughby of the Elizabethtown Police Dept.
According to police, Ratliff ran, leading police on a high speed chase down I-65, ending after Ratliff rammed a state police cruiser.
No one was hurt.
“We're very fortunate that, you shoot a gun nine times, that somebody else wasn't hurt,” said Willoughby.
Ratliff is in the Hardin County Jail facing first degree murder, wanton endangerment and other charges.
No one answered the locked door at Taco Bell.
Birse's family declined to be interviewed.
“Was it something that happened at work? Was it something that happened away from work? I don't know,” said Willoughby.
Ratliff, does not have a previous criminal record.
A sign on the door indicates the restaurant will not reopen until Saturday at the earliest.
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