An Atlanta Subway Employee Killed For Putting Too Much Mayo on a Sandwich

Last night, a Subway employee in Atlanta was shot and killed while another employee is in critical condition. 

The "man" shot the two women because there was too much mayonnaise on his sandwich. The assailant is in custody, but has not been identified other than he is 36. 

Because there was an excess of a condiment on a sandwich, a 26-year old woman named Brittany Macon is dead and another woman is clinging to life. The latter woman's 5-year old son had to bear witness to this horror and will probably carry these scars for the rest of his life. 

This story stands out to me for two reasons. First, because a woman was slain for the most trivial of reasons. Second, because this took place in Atlanta. Mind you this isn't the first time someone has been murdered in Atlanta for a trivial reason. Just last March, a woman lost her life over a bowling ball.

But here is someone who just started a job within the past month only to lose her life because of it. Who is going to want to work in the kind of environment where making a sandwich becomes a matter of life and death?

It is also a reminder of just how violent Atlanta is. Of course, violence can occur anywhere. A young man was very badly beaten here in Boston a few days ago right outside South Station. But things are a far more lethal in Atlanta. In Boston, there have been 13 homicides thus far in 2022. In Atlanta, there have been 82. Atlanta is a larger city but it isn't six times larger than Boston. Yet Atlanta has more than six times as many murders as Boston. 

The one homicide in Atlanta which remains on my mind is the slaughter of Katherine Janness and her dog inside the main entrance of Piedmont Park last July - only two blocks from where I lived. Atlanta Police are no closer to a suspect, much less a motive now than they were nearly a year ago. As much as I enjoyed my Atlanta apartment, I was far less comfortable outside of it. When it is all said and done, I'm far more at ease up here.

Still who can say that someone in Boston, Cambridge or Somerville won't get upset about their dinner and be prepared to kill for it? Who can also say that I one day might end up in the wrong place at the wrong time? But for the Grace of G-d....