Man Kills Shopper Who Held Up Payment Queue, While Other Customers Watch

An impatient customer beat another shopper to death after the latter kept him waiting in queue by continuously speaking to the cashier in the town of Ivanteyevka, Russia, on Wednesday.

Pavel Mazzhukhin, 47, was buying a packet of cigarettes at the shop when 42-year-old unnamed welder suddenly started punching him till he died. The suspect was arrested shortly and he reportedly told the police that he was in a hurry to get back home as it was the first day of Christmas and that he wanted to celebrate, Daily Mail reported.

CCTV footage of the incident shows Mazzhukhin chatting with two female shop assistants. Suddenly, the suspect approaches him and starts insulting him. He then pushes him away from the counter and starts punching him. Mazzhukhin tries pushing the man back, however, the suspect angrily continues punching him in the face.

During the fight, the suspect checks his headphone and finds out they are broken. He then lashes out at the victim, throws him on the floor and stamps on his head several times till he died. The suspect then takes money fallen next to the motionless body, which may have dropped from the victim’s pocket during the scuffle. Two nearby shoppers do nothing during the entire incident.

The suspect told police that he took money from the victim as compensation for his headphones that were broken during the scuffle.

Post the incident, the suspect bought a bottle of alcohol and left the store while the shop assistants called the ambulance. However, by the time medics arrived at the scene, Mazzhukhin, who has a young daughter, had succumbed to injuries.

The suspect, who could face up to 15 years of jail if found guilty, was arrested and placed on remand for two months while the investigation continues.

Mazzhukhin’s family faces financial problems post his death. “Our family's breadwinner has been killed! I am in total shock. I do not understand why,” his wife said.

In a similar instance of customer death, a 30-year-old man was killed by three employees of an eatery after he complained about the quality of food in India’s capital city New Delhi in May. The customer decided to complain to the manager about not getting good quality food. He then had an argument with the employees who hit him multiple times with a broken ladle on his lower back. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he died. The employees were arrested and charged, India Times reported.