The Starbucks murders occurred on July 6, 1997, at a

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...

store located in Georgetown,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, when three employees were killed.

Murder

The morning of Tuesday, July 8, the regional director for Starbucks, Dean Torrenga, toured the crime scene with police. He said, "nothing

ike this Ike or IKE may refer to: People * Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname * ...

in the history of the company... has ever happened..."

Conviction and Trial

On the evening of Monday, March 1, 1999, Carl Derek Cooper was arrested and brought in for questioning in relation to a 1996 attempted murder of an off-duty

Prince George's County ) , demonym = Prince Georgian , ZIP codes = 20607–20774 , area codes = 240, 301 , founded date = April 23 , founded year = 1696 , named for = Prince George of Denmark , leader_title = Executive , leader_name = Angela D. Alsobrook ...

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

. Cooper was charged with three counts of

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

on March 5, 1999. On March 5, Keith Covington, was questioned by

Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC), more commonly known as the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the DC Police, and, colloquially, the DCPD, is the primary law enforcement agency for the District of Columb ...

and the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

for 15 hours. Covington acknowledged that he knew Evans, one of the 25-year-old victims, and that he grew up near Cooper but that was all. To avoid the death penalty, Cooper also admitted to the 1993 murder of a security guard, an attempted murder in 1996 and a series of robberies throughout D.C., Maryland, and Pennsylvania. In total, he pled guilty to 47 criminal counts as part of the plea bargain, in which prosecutors agreed at Cooper's behest not to charge his mother or his wife with related lesser crimes.

Kenneth L. Wainstein Kenneth Leonard Wainstein (born 1962) is an American lawyer. He served as the first Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and later as the Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush. In 2022 under the Biden Ad ...

, at the time an

assistant U.S. attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

, described Cooper in court as the head of a thriving criminal business primed to use violence at the slightest sign of resistance. Wainstein said Cooper told associates, "If anyone bucks, bustle"—meaning, if there isn't instant cooperation, shoot. On April 25, 2000, Cooper was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Anniversary

On July 6, 2022, the 25th anniversary of the murders, Starbucks held a ceremony at the store to remember the three employees.

In media

'' The FBI Files'' based the 13th episode of its fourth season on the murder, entitled ''The Coffee Shop Murders'' the episode aired January 31, 2002.

References

{{reflist Female murder victims Male murder victims Crime in Washington, D.C. 1997 in Washington, D.C. 1997 murders in the United States Murder in the United States Starbucks July 1997 crimes in the United States

Murder

Conviction and Trial

Anniversary

In media

See also

References