Waffle House Waitress Fired For Shooting At Fleeing Robbers

There is a television that asks the question "What Would You Do"? This show uses hidden cameras to record the actions of regular people when confronted by troubling situations. In the case of one Waffle House Restaurant employee in Georgia, her choice of what to do has caused her to lose her job.

Here's what happened. Heather Burkinshaw-Stanley was doing paperwork at a Waffle House Restaurant in Newnan Georgia in the early morning of hours of this past Thursday. Three men who had finished their meal at the restaurant approached the check stand to pay their bill. Instead, they produced a note that said the place was being robbed and that if the cashier did not give them all of the money in the register everyone in the establishment would be shot.

Stanley told a reporter with the Newnan Times-Herald newspaper,

The waitress walked by me, cool as a cucumber and said, We just got robbed.

Stanley immediately got up from her paperwork and ran to her car. She produced a 9mm pistol and fired a single shot toward the fleeing robbers.

I wasn’t sure if they were coming back or not. I was in fear for my life, my co-worker’s life, and I did what I thought was right.

Officials with Waffle House did not agree with Stanley's decision and the almost two-year employee was dismissed from her job.

When asked for a comment on the situation Pat Warner a spokesperson for Waffle House told reporter Clay Neely of the Newnan Times-Herald.

Our local management team has the authority to do what they think is best and will consult with the security department here.With any personnel issue, you have to look at all the facts. We’re still gathering information and looking into the circumstances.

Just to be clear Waffle House Restaurants have a policy of being a gun free zone. That policy has been in effect for some time.

While many who support the rights of gun owners in the country can sympathize with Ms. Stanley's situation they do suggest that she did not exercise the best judgment in using her firearm the way she did.

If she had actually hit one of the perpetrators with her shot she would not have been protected by state law.  That law allows the use of deadly force for personal protection. Many experts agree that this would not have been a case of personal protection because the robbers were fleeing and not posing a direct threat to Stanley or her safety.