Man With Lemon Phobia Kills Friend for Showing Him a Lemon

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade, don't murder someone.

If your friend told you he had a serious phobia of lemons, what would you do? Grab a lemon and plan a prank to freak him out a bit, of course. Sounds innocent enough, unless that friend has homicidal tendencies.

A man from Izmir, Turkey identified only as M.O., is extremely afraid of lemons. We have no idea why he's so terrified of lemons, but apparently it's a phobia he takes very seriously.

After hearing of M.O.'s fear of lemons, 42-year-old Ramazan Kavakalan, a coworker at the lumber yard where they both work, thought it was ridiculous and decided to grab a lemon and show it to M.O. as a joke.

When M.O. saw the lemon he went crazy, ran to his truck, grabbed his rifle and walked into Kavakalan's office and shot him at his desk. Kavakalan died at the hospital four hours later.

M.O. later told police that he never wanted to kill his coworker and blamed his actions on the lemon. "I didn't have the intention to kill him.  I just wanted to scare [him] after the lemon joke he made," he said. "I am so sorry that I have killed my friend. It is the lemon, you see. I cannot stand the sight of them. They make me crazy."

M.O.is now facing murder charges and it's unlikely that the "lemon made me do it" defense will hold up in court.