AutoZone Fires USAF Veteran for Stopping Robbery
 

Well AutoZone has lost all my business. :mad:

AutoZone Fires Worker Who Stopped Robbery
By Todd Starnes
Link: AutoZone Fires Worker Who Stopped Robbery | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes

An AutoZone worker who stopped an armed robbery by retrieving a weapon from his truck said he was fired by the company for violating their gun policy.

Devin McLean and his store manager were about to close the AutoZone in York County, Va. when a gunman barged into the store.
“He pulled a gun from his waist band and demanded me and my manager go back into the office,” McLean told Fox News.

At some point, McLean was left in a restroom while the gunman made the manager open the store safe. That’s when McLean, a 23-year-old Air Force veteran, bolted through a side door and ran to his truck.

He returned through the front door holding a Glock 40 – pointed directly at the masked robber.
“I told him to freeze and to drop his weapon,” McLean told Fox News.

Instead, the robber took off – last seen running down the street from the store.

“I watched him run down the street,” he said. “I came back inside and made sure my manager was okay and he called the police.”

The York County Sheriff’s Dept. believes the bandit is responsible for as many as 30 robberies across the region.
“One of the officers asked why I didn’t shoot the robber,” McLean said.

Sheriff J.D. Diggs told Fox News he considers McLean to be a hero. “He did a very brave thing,” the sheriff said. “He put himself in jeopardy in an attempt to make sure his friend was safe. He did a very brave thing.”

The part-time worker’s manager was especially thankful and credited McLean with saving his life. But two days after the robbery – and just a week before Thanksgiving – McLean was fired.

Television station WTKR reported that McLean violated corporate policy by leaving the store and returning with a weapon.
The station spoke to a representative from the company’s corporate office who said they had a “zero tolerance policy for employees having weapons inside the store.”

An AutoZone spokesman told Fox News they will not discuss the matter.

“It was a surprise to me,” McLean said. “I did the right thing. I saved the company $2,000. I saved one of their manager’s lives – and you’re letting me go? It was a slap in the face.”

McLean said the firing came at a difficult time. He’s about to be a first-time father. “We’re having a little boy,” he said. “I remember when the guy came in with that gun. My initial thought was I want to make it home to my family. I want to have the opportunity to meet my son and for my son to meet his dad. And for someone to come in and shove a gun in your face?”
So why not just keep running? Why go back inside the store – and risk your own life? “I regard them as my family,” McLean said of his co-workers. “You’re not going to leave your brother or sister behind.” It’s a lesson he learned in the Air Force.

“Never leave a man behind,” he said. “I’m not going to leave my brother in a room with a guy with a gun – that’s threatening his life.”
In spite of losing his job, McLean said his actions would be the same if it happened again.
“I wouldn’t change anything,” he said.

The sheriff said he was disappointed to hear that McLean lost his job on account of stopping the robbery. “That’s certainly unfortunate,” he said. “They should be doing something to reward that young man instead of firing him.” Sheriff Diggs said AutoZone has also sent an unintended message to the community. “The company has now sent a message to every would-be robber out there – ‘Hey we’re open for business and unarmed. Come on in and take our money,’” he said.

Meanwhile, the backlash against AutoZone is spreading. Cam Edwards, of NRA News, called AutoZone’s decision an “injustice.” “It may have been corporate policy to fire Devin McLean, but it’s also an injustice. He came to the aid of a fellow employee threatened by an armed robber and was canned. They should have named him employee of the year.” He said the nation needs more people like McLean.

“He had the chance to run away but instead he chose to arm himself with his legally owned gun and save the life of his supervisor,” Edwards told Fox News. “Wouldn’t we all like to work with someone like Devin?”

Customers have launched a boycott against the company on Facebook and a petition has been started urging them to rehire McLean. “There’s a Pep Boys right around the corner,” one irate customer wrote on Facebook.

Where are these people finding all the Glock 40's? They must sell quick because my local gun store never has them in stock.

And AutoZone did the wrong thing by firing him.

Draconian "no tolerance" policies are b***s***.

<------------------ Will not ever buy anything from AUTOZONE again.

Horrible company anyway. I use to work for them many years ago and 99.9% of employees their could not tell the difference between brake pads and headlights.



P.S Check out the FB page LOL

:iagree:

The guy did the right thing and I'm sure he'll be receiving better job offers in the near future because of his actions.

SOP for any company concerned with liability. If he had stopped it in a way that hasn't involved the gun, he'd still be getting fired for violating the "don't resist" policy. Every major retailer I've ever seen follows the same route.

Thank goodness VA at least allows for defense of a third party, unlike many other states. He'd be on some shaky legal ground if he pulled that move in most states.

Autozone stands to lose alot of business.

http://www.facebook.com/autozone?fref=ts

Fired for pulling gun on robbers, pharmacist sues - TODAY News - TODAY.com

http://www.msnbc.com/local/whag/198664.asp

Best Buy Employee Fired for Stopping Laptop Thief

Here are my thoughts on the "rules."
Screw the rules! Rules are out the door when you're staring down the wrong end of a firearm. You point a firearm at me I'm going to find ANYTHING to stop you from using it. I don't care if its me pulling my gun from my hip, or taking a pen and stabbing you anywhere I can. I'm fighting and defending my life by all means possible.

Firing him was too extreme and where I lose all respect for AutoZone. As mentioned there are a thousands other ways to discipline him. But they went to the extreme to put fear into their other employees about taking action to protect themselves. I can only hope that when another AutoZone is robbed, and it will happen again since it is now known that firearms are not allowed, that no one is injured or killed.

i work for advance auto parts an unfortunately we have the same policy.....

Don't blame autozone, blame our broken court system.


Any retailer with > 3 sites follows the same set of rules. You can see the "outrage" links I posted with best buy and Walmart.

The US court system holds companies liable for future incincents if they don't take terminating action in cases like this.


At the end of the day, I doubt he's too distraught over losing an autozone job. I'd take the same path he did, knowing the walking papers were coming, but I'd bitch about our broken legal system rather than a company that is just paying its dues to the shareholders.

Hell, VA needs to hire him as a Law Enforcement Officer. Brave man, here.

wow thats very upsetting! For him to call them family and then they fire him :shakes head: I dont care if it is rules, you figure out a way to keep him. Especially if hes having a baby.

Did no one else see his last name??? jk

http://blogs.dailyrecord.co.uk/tvandfilm/die-hard.jpg


On a serious note like others say, the company could have thanked the worker for his heroics and maybe just disciplined the worker in other ways and then reiterating that message throughout the company (if they were so concerned about policy).

The comment though the Sherriff made: ‘Hey we’re open for business and unarmed. Come on in and take our money,’ is somewhat funny. Although sure he has a valid point regarding security - you'd never see this comment made by Law Enforcement up here. Definitely highlights the differences in Canada vs US with regards to our relationship to bear arms.

You cant say it any better than that.:iagree::iagree::iagree:

I printed out the actual report from the paper. Stopped by autozone. I asked them if they knew about it. They said no comment. I put my basket on the counter and told them I no longer shop here as they are NOT vet-friendly. I bet the AF guy wasn't thinking about the companies "rules" while we were out wacking Towels heads in the gulf. Were else can I post this BS from Autoless Zone!

I guarantee you it was some HR douche that made the call. Hopefully, this management wannabe gets shown the door ASAP.

AGREEEEEEED! :iagree:

I wont be buying from Autozone anymore

If anything else there is a group of PR guys from Autozone PISSED as a result of the back lash this has caused. And probably back-handing the guys down in HR...

You think the kid working at autozone gives a fck whether or not your racist *** shops there anymore? Give me a break. The dumbass deserved to be fired. What if he took a shot at the robber and killed a customer or another employee? Think of the shitstorm that would have caused. Those policies exist for a reason...

:icon18::icon18: the crazy part is most people dont even know how to fire a gun, let alone in a panic like that, to kill another person is not easy neither it may seem cool to talk about but these guys who do arent pullin triggers why you think Dons have people who do their shooting for them :rofl2:

Their Facebook page blowing up is the best part

facebook is where a lot of complaints usually go, also where it becomes public information! :icon17:

True, the kid behind the counter probably doesn't care, but, if enough ppl say something, maybe he will say something to his boss, who will mention it to his boss, ... and it will get to the top.

It was as the store was closing, no mention was made of any patrons being present, and the guy is well-trained on when and how to use a handgun.


He did break the rules when he brought the gun into the store - no arguing with that - but let's get real, the guy did what any person should do. I'm sure that there is a company that will hire him soon (if for nothing else than the good publicity), but it still ain't right to fire someone for doing the right things; no matter what the rules may be. YMMV

They didn't really fire him for violating the firearms policy.

They fired him for violating the "don't be a hero" policy that every store has. If you think Autozone is going to change that policy based on a weeklong bitchfest...well...look at the number of times something has happened at places like Target, Costco, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy. The legal environment doesn't allow them to change their policies even if they wanted to.

I guarantee from a PR perspective they'd rather not fire the kid, but image is image, and giving the impression that you want your employees stopping robberies can cost millions of dollars a year.

I understand that the policies exist, have existed for a long time (I was told to "Don't resist, just give 'em the money. Heck, give 'em your underwear if they want it - we'll buy you new ones. We're insured!" back in the '70s), and that there are very good reasons for the policies (don't want to get sued if someone gets hurt, don't want someone killed, &c).
But there are exceptions to every rule. Based on what I have seen, I'd say this is an exceptional case.

I'm sure if they could get away with it, they would. Most companies hate these policies more than the employees do.


Bear in mind that the re-entry into the building is a grey area under the local law. Strictly speaking, he can only re-enter armed if he believes his boss will be shot if he does not. It's probably better for him to just move on to the next minimum wage job.