Target worker kills man he thought stole his lunch, cops say. He gets 100-year sentence

A Target employee killed his co-worker because he thought the man had stolen his lunch from the office fridge, Virginia officials said.

The 25-year-old has now received a 100-year sentence.

On April 14, 2021, Bazen Berhe was “upset” with 58-year-old Hernan Leiva, who was a janitor at the Target where they both worked, according to the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney.

Berhe, of Alexandria, was 22 at the time. McClatchy News could not immediately locate his attorney’s contact information on Jan. 31.

Believing Leiva had taken his lunch, Berhe began to “plan the murder over the following few days,” the attorney’s office said in a Jan. 30 news release.

As Berhe was leaving his shift on April 15, he bought two knives and a hammer, then spent the next day “training for the murder,” he later told detectives.

The morning of April 17, Berhe got to work before Leiva and waited in the parking lot for the janitor to arrive. When Leiva showed up, Berhe stabbed and bludgeoned him to death before he fled the scene, officials said.

Berhe confessed right away, then pleaded guilty to a first-degree murder charge in October 2023, the attorney’s office said.

At Berhe’s sentencing hearing, he threatened to harm others if he didn’t receive the “harshest” sentence, prosecutors said. The judge handed down a sentence of 100 years.

“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,” Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano said in the release.

Berhe will serve 70 years in prison, with 30 years suspended.

“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,” Descano said.

In Leiva’s obituary, his family described him as a hardworking man from rural El Salvador who was a “prominent figure to his family.”

”Hernan loved spending time with family and friends,” his family wrote. “He always had a smile on his face and one of his special gifts was his sense of humor.”

Fairfax County, Virginia, borders Washington, D.C. to the west.

This story was originally published January 31, 2024 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Target worker kills man he thought stole his lunch, cops say. He gets 100-year sentence."