Ex-Target employee gets 100-year sentence for murdering colleague over stolen lunch

Fairfax, Virginia - A former Target employee was sentenced to 100 years in prison for murdering a colleague who allegedly stole his lunch.

Bazen Berhe was sentenced to 100 years in prison for murdering his Target co-worker Hernan Leiva over a stolen lunch.
Bazen Berhe was sentenced to 100 years in prison for murdering his Target co-worker Hernan Leiva over a stolen lunch.  © Collage: SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP & Fairfax County Police Department

Bazen Berhe admitted to wanting to get back at his 58-year-old co-worker Hernan Leiva after learning the retail store janitor took food belonging to him from a company fridge on April 15, 2021, WTOP reported.

The next day, Berhe reportedly purchased a hammer and a pair of knives from the Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia Target where he and the victim worked.

The 25-year-old said he spent a couple of days "training for the murder," before stabbing and bludgeoning his colleague in the store's parking garage in the early morning of April 17, 2021. Levia died on the scene.

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Berhe fled the crime scene roughly 10 miles west of Washington DC, but immediately confessed to police what he'd done and later pleaded guilty to murder.

The harsh sentence came after he reportedly told a Virginia judge he would commit more acts of violence if the court went easy on him. But according to the Washington Post, the defendant from Alexandria promised the court he'd behave in prison.

Berhe claimed he was having immigration issues before his lunch was stolen and that had him upset. His court appearance also included a bizarre conciliatory offer to the victim's family for the "gruesome and grotesque" murder he committed.

"I want the family to know, I did everything in my power to kill him in less than a minute," Berhe said.

He'll serve 70 years in prison, with a suspended sentence of 30 years.

Cover photo: Collage: SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP & Fairfax County Police Department

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