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Man gets 60-year sentence in killing of Gentilly Subway store owner

Surveillance video from the store captured the robbery and the struggle for the weapon. Alasar died an hour later, leaving behind a wife and three young children.
Credit: Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office
Lavar Butler

NEW ORLEANS — A 22-year-old man received a 60-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to the killing of a Gentilly Subway store owner during an attempted robbery in December 2017, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

Lavar Butler was set to begin trial soon for the killing of 51-year-old Adnan Alasar before entering the guilty plea to a charge of manslaughter and of a felon being in possession of a firearm.

The plea agreement was approved by Alasar’s family and Criminal District Judge Paul Bonin, according to the DA’s office.

Surveillance video from the store captured the robbery and the struggle for the weapon. Alasar, who was left lying on the ground and who died an hour later, left behind a wife and three young children.

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District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said Butler had been convicted four years ago for robbing a McDonald’s in Texas at gunpoint.

“He deserves every day of the six-decade sentence the judge imposed today to consider whether his own life was worth throwing away over a few dollars he chose not to work and earn," Cannizzaro said.

The DA also noted that Alasar and his wife came to the U.S. from Syria in search of a better life for his family.

“He went on to operate three Subway franchises in our city, and it is absolutely tragic that his dream for success would end in such a nightmarish fashion. We extend our deepest condolences to his family.”

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