He had just bought a sandwich.

(Explanation to follow)

Gavrilo Princip was one of several young Serbian men who, as members of the Black Hand, planned the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. On June 28, 1914, the Archduke and his wife, Sophie came to Sarajevo for a state visit. As was the custom, and despite warnings by the government that the safety of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie might be in jeopardy, the pair traveled along a parade route in an open car. The would be assassins were in the crowd. In a series of events that might seem comical if they weren’t so deadly, the first attempts failed and the young men scattered. Gavrilo Princip went to a delicatessen to buy a sandwich. Meanwhile the panicked driver of the Archduke’s car made a wrong turn in speeding away from the danger. As Princip exited the deli, he found himself face to face with Franz Ferdinand as the driver tried to turn the car around. Princip seized his opportunity, and shot the royal couple fatally. The rest, as they say, is history…

~Back to Small Cuts next week. I needed some time to organize my thoughts for the next sections.