So there's these two stations over on Fort Street near Springwells in Detroit. One's a BP and the other's a Marathon station. Both are known for offering pretty decent gas prices downtown and we've bought gas at both stations depending on which station seemed to have the daily price leverage over the other. But apparently the penny price war between the two stations we'd always taken advantage of has now gone deadly. Last night BP station owner Jawad Bazzi got a bullet to the head over a 3-cent difference in the cost of regular unleaded. Here's what we're told happened:
The Marathon station on Fort near Springwells dropped its price to $2.93. That angered Jawad Bazzi, whose regular gas was priced at $2.96.
Bazzi walked across the street with a couple of employees to confront the Marathon owner and his posse.
The groups argued, then began throwing punches. One of Bazzi's employees hit a Marathon employee with a baseball bat, injuring him.
That's when the Marathon owner grabbed a handgun and fired three or four times. Bazzi, 45, of Dearborn Heights was shot in the head.
The Marathon owner, whose name wasn't released Friday, was arrested. He's identified as a 51-year-old Warren man.
We're told because the Marathon station's now closed, the price at the BP is now at $3.09 for regular. Somewhere we think Bazzi is smiling. UPDATE: Will the gas station owner be charged? One local Detroit TV station weighs in here. [via Freep]