Another day, another Starbucks murder in Philadelphia. Beau Zabel, a 23-year-old barrista at the Starbucks on Fourth & South, was killed on early Sunday morning by a shooter on the 800 block of Ellsworth Street. Police believe he was murdered for his iPod.
To recap, in the past six months:
• A 36-year-old Starbucks manager was murdered for fun by four youths on the Philadelphia subway. The teens chose him as a random target for a beating — the manager, Sean Patrick Conroy, suffered a fatal heart attack.
• A random man was stabbed in the face, back and chest at a Starbucks on the (relatively crime-free) South Broad Street strip along Jackson Street back in December of 2007. He was admitted to University of Pennsylvania hospital in critical condition.
When Zabel was killed, he was listening to his iPod. His body was found stripped of his iPod… But his backpack, complete with wallet inside, was left behind. Zabel had moved to Philadelphia from Minnesota to teach Math in the Philadelphia public schools and was temping at Starbucks.
His MySpace page was headlined “just waiting for life to begin.”
Killed over a iPod. Philadelphia, what the hell?
Police seek public help in Beau Zabel’s death [Inquirer]
Was Beau Zabel killed for his iPod Classic? [philly.com]
Beau Zabel [MySpace]
Beau Zabel [Facebook]
