It all started over an allegedly stolen lunch.
Bazen Berhe, 25, was sentenced for stabbing and beating his co-worker, Hernan Leiva, 58, to death, and at his hearing, he threatened more harm if he did not get the worst punishment available, said prosecutors in Fairfax County, Virginia.
“At the sentencing hearing, the defendant threatened to kill or hurt other people if he was not given the harshest possible sentence,” they wrote Tuesday.
The judge gave him 100 years in prison, with 30 suspended, so he has to serve 70 in practice.
The defendant and the victim worked at the same Target in the community of Bailey’s Crossroads.
“Berhe, of Alexandria, claimed he was upset with Leiva, who was a janitor at the Target, for taking Berhe’s lunch from the office fridge,” they wrote. “After this incident occurred on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, Berhe purchased a hammer and two knives while leaving his shift at Target, and he told detectives that he spent the following day, April 16, ‘training for the murder.’”