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Man convicted of murder after killing young gas clerk over mask rules

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A German man accused last year of fatally shooting a young gas station clerk after being asked to wear a face mask was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday.

According to German media outlets, the 50-year-old they identified as Mario N. was also found guilty of illegal weapons possession because the gun he used wasn't licensed, the Associated Press reported.

Authorities said last September, the Associated Press reported that the man was at a gas station in the town of Idar-Oberstein to buy beer when the 20-year-old clerk refused him service for not wearing a mask.

According to the news outlet, wearing a mask inside a store was a requirement in the country at that time to stop the spread of COVID-19.

"Acting out of anger," authorities said the man returned to the store wearing a mask a half-hour later and shot the clerk in the head, the Associated Press reported.

The man then fled the scene but turned himself in to police a day after the killing, the news outlet reported.