Alton Nolen, a convert to Islam, beheaded a co-worker and attacked a second person after being fired from his job at a food processing plant. While the murder has been cast as workplace violence, Nolen's social media posts included a picture of Osama bin Laden and a beheading, in addition to anti-Semitic and anti-American comments. In Dec. 2017, Nolen was sentenced to death for beheading a coworker. His attorneys argued that Nolen was mentally ill and he believed he was doing the right thing because of his delusional misinterpretations of the Quran.