The killing of the 28-year-old waiter at the Mistral cafe in the suburb of Noisy-le-Grand on Friday night has horrified Parisians.
A witness was reported as saying the man shot the waiter after losing his temper "as his sandwich wasn't prepared quickly enough."
One resident, standing outside the restaurant on Saturday, asked an AFP reporter in amazement: "He was killed for a sandwich?"
— InsideOjodu.com (@InsideOjodu) August 18, 2019
The area around the cafe is reputedly frequented by drug dealers and is a blackspot for drunken hooliganism.
The victim has yet to be identified and police have issued few details about the perpetrator.
But it is the motive - or lack of it - which has horrified France. Yet it is not the first time someone has lost their life for little or no reason.
— Brigitte MARSIGNY (@B_Marsigny) August 17, 2019
[Tweet: ‘Horrified by the abject crime of a young waiter last night on Noisy-le-Grand. An investigation is underway. I send my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the victim.’]
Smoking Ban Murder
At the beginning of July 2007 patrons of pubs, restaurants and nightclubs in England were officially banned from smoking on the premises.
On 23 July 2007 James Oyebola, a 46-year-old former boxer, was trying to enforce the new law at the Chateau 6 bar in Fulham, south-west London.
Nicknamed “Big Bad James” Oyebola during his ring career - which had seen him win the British heavyweight championship - he was six feet nine inches tall and an imposing figure but colleagues said he never threw his weight around.
— London Boxing History (@LDNBOXHISTORY) July 27, 2018
A young man was smoking in an area known as the "garden bar" although it was undercover and covered by the smoking ban.
When Mr Oyebola politely asked him to stop smoking, a row developed.
After a brief scuffle a friend of the smoker, Kanyanta Mulenga, pulled out a gun and fired at Mr Oyebola, killing him.
— London Boxing History (@LDNBOXHISTORY) April 1, 2019
Mulenga, 23, was jailed for life in 2008 and must spend a minimum of 28 years behind bars.
Sentencing him, Judge Peter Rook said: "This was nothing short of a brutal killing carried out for the most trivial of reasons."
The Xbox Massacre
In the summer of 2004 Troy Victorino, 27, was evicted from a house in Florida, where he had been squatting.
The house, in Deltona, was owned by the grandparents of Erin Belanger.
They were “snowbirds” who flew down for occasional breaks.
— Orlando Sentinel (@orlandosentinel) March 8, 2018
When Erin found Victorino and several others squatting in the house she organised their eviction and took some of his possessions, including an Xbox and some clothing.
Victorino, a former convict who claimed to be a member of the Latin Kings gang, was outraged and demanded his Xbox back.
A feud developed and on 6 August 2004 Victorino and three friends burst into Erin’s home and wrought a terrible revenge.
Erin, her boyfriend Francisco Ayo-Roman, and their friends Michael Ann Nathan, 19, Anthony Veeda, 34, Roberto Gonzalez, 28, and Jonathan Gleason, 17, were all tortured and killed.
Victorino and his gang - who also killed a pet dachshund dog - were later sentenced to death for the so-called “Xbox murders”.
Halloween Party Murder
On 17 October 1992 Yoshihiro Hattori, a 16-year-old Japanese exchange student, was on his way to a Halloween party in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Hattori was dressed, in a tuxedo, as John Travolta’s character from the movie Pulp Fiction and was looking forward to the party.
But the teenager had only a rudimentary grasp of English.
— Harrison Golden (@harrisongolden) October 17, 2018
After being dropped off at the house where he thought the party was taking place, Hattori walked towards the front door.
Suddenly the home owner, Rodney Peairs, 30, appeared with a gun and shouted: “Freeze!”
Hattori misunderstood what the word meant - or perhaps thought it was a prank - and walked slowly towards Peairs, who fired at point blank range with a .44 calibre handgun.
Peairs was charged with manslaughter but was acquitted after using the “castle doctrine”, by which Americans can use lethal force to defend their property.
Hattori’s family later won US$650,000 in damages from Peairs’ insurance company.
Killed Over Avril Lavigne
There are fewer more passionate fans of Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne than Robert Lyons.
On 14 March 2008 Robert Lyons, 39, flew into a rage and attacked his mother, Linda Bolek, 61.
He hit her repeatedly in the head with a cognac bottle and then stabbed her so violently that the blade broke off. He threw drain cleaner and household cleaning chemicals on the body to “humiliate her”.
— v̵̢̙̤̀͝l̵͕͋͠a̸̤̮͒d̴̨̪͓̄ (@tweetythread) September 15, 2018
The motive?
He was angry when she refused to buy tickets for an upcoming Avril Lavigne concert for him.
Lyons, who was later arrested at a Hooters restaurant in a Chicago suburb, suffered from bipolar disorder.
Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Lindt said: “The defendant was angry at his mother and he killed her, plain and simple. Because she had the audacity to say no to him that day, because he wanted those concert tickets, he acted out on that anger.”
Lyons was jailed for 40 years in 2011.
Killed Over £20
In August last year Thomas Gravestock, 35, owed Sean Doherty, 24, and refused to pay him back.
Doherty attacked Mr Gravestock at a house in Corby, England.
He suffered 35 separate injuries and as he lay dying, Doherty took a photo of him with his foot on his head and sent it to others via text message.
But Doherty’s plea of guilty to manslaughter was accepted and he was jailed for only seven years.
Killing to Impress a Movie Vampire
Allen Menzies, from Scotland, was obsessed with the 2002 film Queen of the Damned and had watched the movie 100 times.
He became convinced he would be rewarded with immortality and become a vampire "in the next life" if he carried out a murder to impress Akasha, the vampire queen in the film (played by American singer Aaliyah).
In December 2002 Menzies, 22, struck his friend Thomas McKendrick over the head with a hammer and stabbed him 42 times, before drinking his blood.
Menzies was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 18 years, in 2003 but the following year killed himself in prison.
Whether or not he will be a vampire in the next life is a moot point.
