Ky. deputies: Florida man kills hotel worker after assault

A Florida man was charged with first-degree murder after a weekend shooting of a Kentucky hotel worker that followed an argument in the hotel parking lot with a couple that was not able to give the suspect a cigarette lighter, according to a report from the McCracken County Sheriff ’s Office.

Robert Pannell, 55, of Palm Coast was arrested after an incident Saturday morning at the Paducah-area hotel during which sheriff ’s deputies responded alongside officers with the Paducah Police Department after a call about a male actively shooting in the hotel.

A sheriff ’s deputy found a female victim on the first floor of the hotel while a Paducah police officer located and detained Pannell as a suspect in the parking lot.

The shooting victim had multiple gunshot wounds to her head and body, the sheriffs office stated. The victim was transported to an area hospital and kept alive for organ donation before dying Saturday afternoon.

The investigation after the arrest showed

Pannell was a suspect in an assault of a male and female in the parking lot after they could not give him a cigarette lighter, deputies said. It was then he is accused of going inside the hotel with a handgun, walking down a hallway and shooting the victim as well as shooting several rounds indiscriminately, deputies said.

The report said several people were in close proximity during the shooting and the suspect threw the handgun away inside the lobby of the hotel.

Initially Pannell was charged with first-degree assault, two counts of fourth-degree assault and four counts of first-degree wanton endangerment by the sheriff’s ofice and third-degree assault, menacing, second-degree disorderly conduct and resisting arrest by the Paducah Police. The first-degree murder charge was filed after the victim’s death. He was booked into the McCracken County Jail.

Pannell was staying as a guest. Deputies are working with the Flagler County Sheriff ’s Office in Florida.

It is not known why Pannell was in Kentucky, deputies said.

The investigation in ongoing.