A man was stabbed to death outside a Maryland Popeyes in a fight over the chain’s popular fried chicken sandwich, police said.
A spokeswoman for the Prince George’s Police Department said the 28-year-old, who has not been identified, was killed at a restaurant in Oxon Hill, outside Washington D.C.
A fight began after someone cut in line, spokeswoman Jennifer Donelan said.
“For you to get that angry over anything — for that type of anger to develop into this type of violence, again is a very sad and tragic day,” Donelan said.
The fight began inside the restaurant and later moved outside, Donelan said. The man was rushed to a hospital where he later died.
Authorities did not identify a suspect.
Popeyes began selling the sandwich on Sunday after a two-month hiatus. First introduced in August, it sold out in just two weeks — a surge in popularity prompted by a viral feud with Chick-fil-A.
This summer, customers angry about the sandwich shortage threatened restaurant workers at a franchise in Texas. Another filed a lawsuit in Tennessee alleging “deceptive business practices.”
“We do not yet know whether this was the result of a dispute over one of our products or something unrelated, but there is no reason for someone to lose their life on a Monday night in a parking lot,” Popeyes said in a statement to NBC News. “Our thoughts are with the victim’s family and friends and we are fully cooperating with local authorities.”
