Man Who Killed UT-Austin's Beloved 'Junior The Wendy's Guy' Gets 2-Year Jail Term

NORTH AUSTIN, TX — The man who fatally punched "Junior the Wendy's Guy," the nickname of a former cashier beloved by University of Texas at Austin students, was sentenced Friday to two years in jail for the assault.

Nikolas Ray Eller, 39, previously pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as part of a plea deal, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The charge was included as part of the original assault charge, the newspaper explained.

The case dates to April 2016, when Eller approached Ishmael Mohammed Jr. (known as "Junior the Wendy's Guy by students) asking for drugs in North Austin. Mohammed is said to have accused Eller of being a cop, prompting him to knock Mohammed out with a punch to the face, as the Statesman reported at the time.

Mohammed died three days after the attack, succumbing to massive brain hemorrhage.

Mohammed, 60, was a celebrated character at the UT-Austin campus, where he dished out orders at lightning speed working for the Wendy's fast food burger joint in the Texas Union. His proficiency at the cash register prompted the newspaper to dub Mohammed "the Rachmaninoff of the register," and that prowess, coupled with his charisma, caught the attention of a documentary team who filmed him at his job.

After working at the Wendy's from 1999 to 2012, Mohammed fell on hard times after briefly moving to New York City where his mother died, according to reports. After his return to Austin, one of the students that had been enchanted by the clerk's antics set up a GoFundMe campaign to help Mohammed get back on his feet, the Statesman reported at the time. More than $30,000 was raised, far exceeding the $2,000 goal.

Eller had a previous theft conviction in 2010 in Oklahoma for which he served one year in prison, the newspaper reported. When police located Eller, he claimed not to remember the assault given that he'd been ingesting heroin, methamphetamine and Xanax for four days straight, the Statesman reported at the time. And when police found Mohammed, he was slumped over in a bus stop all alone, bleeding from his nose and mouth with a ruptured pupil, the newspaper reported.

>>> Read the full story at Austin American-Statesman

Uppermost image: Nikolas Ray Eller booking photo via Austin Police Department