Once inside, the man forced the manager, at gunpoint, to open the safe, then shot and killed the manager and two workers. A third worker survived when the gun failed to fire. Three Employees Killed at D.C. Starbucks, Washington Post , July 8, 1997. A Starbucks employee, arriving for work, found the bodies of the night manager and two co-workers. All three had been shot.
Attempted robbery is believed to have been the motive.
These two cases were strikingly similar. One might have expected them to have been prosecuted similarly. They were not. The differences illustrate some of the arbitrary and capricious elements of the criminal justice system and, perhaps, the influence of race. The Assistant U.S. Attorney in charge of the case sought a sentence of life without parole.