Virginia Man Sentenced 100 Years After Killing Co-Worker For Stealing His Lunch
A Virginia man was just sentenced to 100 years in prison after stabbing a former co-worker to death after discovering that the co-worker allegedly stole his lunch from the company refrigerator.
According to Fox 5 Washington DC, 25-year-old Bazen Berhe of Virginia killed his 58-year-old Target co-worker after finding out that he took his lunch from the refrigerator where they both were employed. This incident took place on April 17, 2021. He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after he beat and stabbed Hernan Leiva to death in the parking lot of a Target store in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia.
The punishment was announced by the Fairfax County, Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney on Jan. 30. Berhe was given the 100-year sentence with 30 years suspended, meaning he will serve 70 years in prison.
“Mr. Leiva’s unnecessary and tragic death leaves behind a grieving family and community, one that will never be the same after such a senseless act of violence,” Commonweath’s Attorney Steve Descano said. “In this case, because of the unique and self-proclaimed danger the defendant continues to pose to the community, today’s sentence was a necessary outcome for maintaining public safety.”
Behre was given the sentence because prosecutors said that if he wasn’t given a harsh sentence, he would allegedly kill or hurt other people.
“Mr. Leiva’s unnecessary and tragic death leaves behind a grieving family and community, one that will never be the same after such a senseless act of violence,” Commonweath’s Attorney Steve Descano said. “In this case, because of the unique and self-proclaimed danger the defendant continues to pose to the community, today’s sentence was a necessary outcome for maintaining public safety.”
The killing allegedly happened because several days prior to the incident, on April 14, Leiva, who was a janitor at Target, took Berhe’s lunch. This angered Behre, according to prosecutors, so much that he planned on killing him for doing so. The day after the theft, Berhe went and bought a hammer and two knives when he left his shift. He expressed to detectives that the next day on April 16, he spent the day “training for the murder.”
On April 17, he arrived at the employee parking lot early so he could wait for Leiva to get to work. When he saw him, Berhe attacked and stabbed him to death before leaving the parking lot. Berhe confessed to the killing and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in October 2023.
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The post Virginia Man Sentenced 100 Years After Killing Co-Worker For Stealing His Lunch first appeared on Black Enterprise.