"The one thing that stuck in this witness's mind when he shot someone at point blank range was that he was quoting one of our lyrics." How a thrash classic from Metallica's Kill 'Em All album got linked to a brutal murder in Texas in the 1980s

On August 11, 1984, 18-year-old Troy Kunkle and three friends drove from their homes in San Antonio, Texas to Corpus Christi for a day at the beach. That evening, drunk, high, and looking for someone to rob, they offered a ride to a stranger, Stephen Horton, who was walking home. After the 31-year-old took a seat in the car, however, his fellow passengers demanded his wallet. When Horton refused, Troy Kunkle shot him in the head, and his lifeless body was thrown out of the car into a field.

According to evidence later given at his murder trial, after shooting Horton Troy Kunkle sang, "Another day, another death, another sorrow, another breath", a lyric from Metallica's No Remorse, from their 1983 debut album Kill 'Em All.

Metallica learned of their unwitting connection to the killing while on an American tour, according to drummer Lars Ulrich.

"We pulled into Corpus Christi, Texas, and woke up with a call from our manager [Q Prime's Peter Mensch]who said there's some shit going on," Ulrich told British music magazine Q in 1991.

Ulrich's memory of what the call from Mensch told the band was that a local TV station was "making a big deal because this kid apparently took some acid or other fucked-up drugs and went on a killing rampage."

"And the one thing that stuck in this witness's mind," he told music writer Mat Snow, "when he shot someone at point blank range was that he was quoting one of our lyrics, No Remorse."

"He got sentenced to death," the Dane continued, "and there was this big yahoo when he stood up in the courtroom and quoted the lyrics again. But, believe me, it's not something I have a day-to-day interest in."

Kunkle spent more than half of his life on death row for the murder. In 2004, during an interview with a Texan TV station, he said that the killing was a "juvenile mistake made with juvenile peer pressure."

"There's nothing about this to be proud of," he stated. "Really, it's kind of a shame and an embarrassment."

The following year, in January, after twice having his scheduled execution dates postponed by US court judgements, Kunkle was given a lethal injection in Texas.

According to the Associated Press, his final words to friends and relatives were, "I love you and I will see all of you in heaven."

In his interview with Q, Lars Ulrich also revealed that Metallica had also "caught a bit of flak" over the lyrics to Fade To Black, from 1984's Ride The Lightning album, "because of a couple of isolated cases where kids committed suicide and left notes requesting our song Fade To Black be played at the funeral, or left the lyrics in the suicide note."

"It's not something that brightens your day, but what can you do?" the drummer said. "But in the seven years since that song came out, we've received thousands of letters from kids telling us how that song gave them the will to live."