Man stabbed to death in fight over Popeyes' popular chicken sandwich

A man was stabbed to death at a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant in Maryland in a fight that started because one person allegedly cut in front of another in line while trying to get the chain's popular chicken sandwich, NBC News reported.

The victim has not been identified, though he is reportedly 28 years old. And while the fight is known to have begun over cutting in line, it's not clear yet what role the victim played in the start of the conflict at the Oxon Hill location just outside Washington, D.C.

"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," Prince George's Police Department spokeswoman Jennifer Donelan said.

A Popeyes statement left open the possibility that the conflict was unrelated to the chicken sandwich.

"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," a company representative told NBC News. "Our thoughts are with the victim's family and friends and we are fully cooperating with local authorities."

WTTG-TV reporter Evan Lambert, however, reported that two men were waiting in a line specifically dedicated to customers ordering the chicken sandwich. One man cut in front of another, resulting in the stabbing. The attacker has not been arrested.

The Popeyes chicken sandwich became a hot item in part due to viral hype from a friendly social media feud with Chick-fil-A. Locations all over the country were soon swarmed with customers daily until the sandwich was totally sold out in just two weeks, when the original stock was supposed to last for months.

So desperate were some people to obtain the sandwich that when Popeyes ran out, some customers threatened store employees and another even sued the company, NBC News reported. Last month, according to KTRK-TV, armed customers rushed a Houston location demanding sandwiches, and pulled their guns on employees when the store was out of stock.

Some locations are already selling out, setting up the possibility for more conflicts in the days and weeks to come.