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A wait for fried chicken ended with a rifle pointed at a restaurant employee. Police say 33-year-old Nayda Roman grew frustrated inside the drive-thru line at a Lexington KFC, exchanged words with staff, then left her spot and circled back around the building. What happened next turned a routine fast food delay into a felony case that took months to surface publicly, according to WKYT.
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The Incident Started at the Richmond Road Location on May 11
The confrontation happened at the KFC on Richmond Road in Lexington on May 11. Roman was waiting in the drive-thru when the delay in her order set off the exchange with employees. Instead of pulling away and leaving, she stayed on the property, driving her vehicle around the building toward the restaurant’s parking lot. Staff inside had no way of knowing what she planned to do next.
Roman Allegedly Opened Her Trunk and Grabbed the Rifle
Once parked, Roman got out of her vehicle and opened the trunk, according to the arrest citation. Inside was an AR-15-style rifle. She lifted it out and turned toward the restaurant, where an employee was working the window just moments earlier. The report describes what came next as a deliberate act, not a passing outburst over a slow order.
Employee Says Rifle Was Pointed in a “Threatening Manner”
According to LEX 18, Roman raised the rifle and aimed it at the employee in what the citation describes as a threatening manner. No shots were fired during the encounter. After holding the weapon on the worker, Roman returned to her car and drove off without her food, leaving the employee to process what had just happened at the window.
Police Turned to Security Footage to Track Down a Suspect
Investigators did not have a name right away. They started with surveillance footage from inside and outside the KFC, using it to identify the vehicle involved in the confrontation. That footage became the first thread connecting a plate or a description to an actual suspect, but confirming her identity still required piecing together additional evidence from separate sources.
Body Camera Footage From Old Traffic Stops Sealed the Identification
Officers compared the KFC surveillance video against police body camera recordings from unrelated traffic stops involving the same vehicle. The footage matched. Investigators then showed the employee a photo lineup, and according to Law&Crime, the worker identified Roman as the person who had pointed the rifle.
Arrest Came More Than Two Months After the Incident
Roman was not taken into custody until late July, roughly two and a half months after the May 11 confrontation. Jail records show she was booked into the Fayette County Detention Center. Local outlets differ slightly on the exact arrest date, with some reporting July 27 and others July 28, but the charge itself is not in dispute among any of the accounts.
She Faces a Class D Felony Under Kentucky Law
Roman was charged with one count of first-degree wanton endangerment. Under Kentucky law, the charge applies when someone acts with extreme indifference to human life and creates a real danger of death or serious injury. It is classified as a Class D felony, carrying a possible sentence of one to five years and a fine of up to $10,000. The charge only escalates to a Class C felony if a firearm is discharged during the offense, which prosecutors have not alleged here.
No Court Date Has Been Publicly Confirmed
As of early August, Roman’s next court appearance had not been made public, and reporting from Fox 56 noted that no plea or final outcome had been recorded. The charge remains an allegation. Roman has not been convicted of any crime connected to the KFC parking lot confrontation, and the case is still working its way through the system.
A Reminder of What Fast Food Workers Absorb on Any Given Shift
Roman’s arrest closes one chapter of the case while opening a longer legal process ahead of her. But the incident also lands as a stark reminder for an industry where slow orders and short tempers collide daily. Employees behind fast food counters cannot control kitchen delays, staffing shortages, or supply hiccups, yet they remain the most visible target when a customer’s patience runs out. What happened at that Richmond Road drive-thru shows how far that frustration can escalate when someone decides a rifle is an acceptable response to a wait for chicken.