On the evening of March 23, 1997, a 17-year-old female named Andrea Michelle Brown was ending her shift at a McDonald's located on Lebanon Road in Hermitage, Tennessee. As she and three of her coworkers were leaving the restaurant after closing, they were confronted by a man with a gun. The assailant forced the four employees back inside the building and into the storeroom.
Once inside the storeroom, the gunman opened fire, fatally shooting Andrea Brown, along with two of her colleagues, 27-year-old Ronald Santiago and 23-year-old Robert A. Sewell. The attacker also attempted to shoot a fourth employee, José Antonio Ramirez Gonzalez, but the weapon malfunctioned. The assailant then resorted to stabbing Gonzalez seventeen times before leaving him for dead. Miraculously, Gonzalez survived the brutal attack by pretending to be deceased. The perpetrator then fled the scene after taking money from the restaurant.
The investigation into the triple homicide led law enforcement to identify Paul Dennis Reid, who would later be known as the 'Fast Food Killer,' as the primary suspect. Reid, a man with a prior criminal record, was eventually apprehended. He was subsequently charged with the murders of Andrea Brown, Ronald Santiago, and Robert Sewell, as well as the attempted murder of José Antonio Ramirez Gonzalez.
Paul Dennis Reid stood trial and was convicted on seven counts of first-degree murder, which included the three slayings at the Hermitage McDonald's and other similar crimes at fast-food restaurants in the area. For his horrific crimes, Reid received seven death sentences. His convictions and death sentences were later upheld by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Reid remained on death row until he died in a Nashville hospital on November 1, 2013, from complications of various health issues.
