Should Man Have Been Fired for Thwarting Robbery With Gun?

Shell gas station fired a man who pulled a gun on an alleged robbery suspect at a station convenience store in Nashua, NH, this week. Surveillance footage shows a man entered the station about 3 a.m. on Monday wielding a knife and demanding money.

Shell said the man violated the company’s “no guns” policy when he scared off the suspect.

The store employee, Shannon “Bear” Cothran of Milford, NH, told Patch that he has no regrets for his actions.

"My one hope for all of this is that they rethink their policy about not permitting cashiers to protect themselves. I realize it's a liability for the company, I am sympathetic with them as far as that goes. But I'm hoping they rethink their policy of letting employees who are licensed to carry concealed weapons do so. I hope they look at this and realize there was no monetary loss to the store, no injuries and that because I am a reasonable human being and a responsible gun owner, they benefitted," Cothran said. 

Cothran said he was just trying to protect himself.

"You can't take anything for granted these days. We have a growing cultural problem in this country that's affecting things like crime. We have drug epidemics out of control, our economy is still suffering — people are still desperate, and desperate people do desperate things," Cothran said. 

"I believe we have two choices: Be a victim or stand up and defend ourselves. I chose to be responsible for my own safety, and for that, I have no regrets," Cothran said. "This wasn't an episode of a TV show. This was real. I just did what I had to do to make sure I survived." 

Read the full story on Nashua Patch.

What do you think? Should Shell have fired the employee for his actions? Let us know in the comment section below.