Police: Customer shoots St. Louis KFC employee over no corn

FILE - A KFC restaurant is seen on April 21, 2021, in New York. An employee of a Kentucky Fried Chicken in St. Louis was hospitalized Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, after he was shot by a customer who became upset when the restaurant ran out of corn, police said. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A KFC employee in St. Louis has been hospitalized after a customer shot him because he was upset that the restaurant had run out of corn, police said.

The shooting happened Monday evening in the city's Central West End neighborhood.

Investigators said the man tried to place an order in the restaurant's drive-thru lane. He became upset and threatened employees when he was told the business was out of corn, police said.

The man had a handgun when he drove up to the drive-thru window. A 25-year-old employee who went outside to talk to the driver returned to the restaurant and said he had been shot, police said.

The driver fled and had not been arrested as of Tuesday afternoon.

The victim was hospitalized in critical but stable condition.