“Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker” arrested in Philadelphia

Life on the run for the Internet sensation known as “Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker” ended when he asked for a cup of coffee.

A Starbucks employee was credited Friday with recognizing 24-year-old Caleb “Kai” McGillvary, wanted in the beating death of a man nearly three times his age.

McGillvary is accused of killing attorney Joseph Galfy Jr. and he was arrested Thursday in Philadelphia and charged with murder.

On Monday, Galfy was found beaten to death in his bedroom, wearing only his socks and underwear.

McGillvary gained a measure of fame in February after intervening in an attack on a California utility worker.

In an interview viewed millions of times online, he described using a hatchet he was carrying to repeatedly hit a man who had struck a worker with his car, fending off a further attack.

His rambling, profanity-laced interview to a television station went viral, with one version viewed more than 3.9M times on YouTube.

This led to a later appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live”.

On Thursday, McGillvary went into the coffee shop in Philadelphia, and the employee who waited on him recognized him and called police.

McGillvary took off before police arrived, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said, but an officer found him at a nearby bus terminal.

McGillvary was being held on $3M bail.

It was not clear whether he has a lawyer.

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