Workplace safety and wellbeing is in the headlines again after a Pizza Hut employee in South Milwaukee was convicted of killing his manager, following a dispute related to an inheritance.
Kavonn Ingram confessed to shooting his manager, Alexander Stengel at the restaurant where they worked, following a dispute over $7,000. Authorities found Stengel's body in a trash can outside the restaurant following a trail of blood that led to the kitchen.
The autopsy revealed that Stengel was shot at close range, sustaining gunshot wounds to his head and neck. According to reports, Stengel had cashed an inheritance check prior to arriving at work that day and was believed to have the money on him.
Ingram claims that the incident was an act of self-defense. During his court appearance, he expressed remorse for his actions, but he described a highly emotional and tense workplace atmosphere that he believes contributed to the tragic outcome.
“I take responsibility for my wrong actions taken after the altercation at Pizza Hut,” he said in court, adding that the events leading up to the altercation left him feeling “panic, anxiety, fear, [and] grief,” suggesting that his emotional state led him to act in what he described as “survival mode.”
He also insisted that the physical altercation was initiated by Stengel.
However, Judge Michelle Havas, in her sentencing, challenged Ingram’s narrative, characterizing the incident as premeditated and calling it “a cold-blooded execution of someone who worked for 33 years for crappy wages at a Pizza Hut, because it’s what he could do.”
Need for workplace mental health support
Ingram was arrested four days after Stengel’s body was recovered. He pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless homicide in August, and on Friday was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The case highlights the need for businesses, especially in high-stress, lower-wage environments, to consider the mental wellbeing of their employees and implement systems to manage conflict before they escalate. And continues the ongoing discussion around gun control.
Workplace experts point out that heightened stress and unresolved tensions in work environments can lead to severe consequences and emphasizes the need for mental health support, conflict resolution resources, and proper channels for addressing grievances to create safer and healthier workplaces.