Waffle House employee fired after using gun in self-defense during robbery

A Waffle House waitress in Georgia says she was fired after she discharged a gun in self-defense when the restaurant she worked at was recently robbed.

Heather “Shorty” Burkinshaw-Stanley told the Newnan Times-Herald last week that she learned on Friday via phone that she had been terminated by Waffle House one day after she acted in self-defense when her restaurant was being robbed.

More from the Times-Herald:

Three men ate a meal and then, instead of paying, gave the cashier a note warning everyone in the building would be shot if money in the cash register wasn’t handed over to the trio.

After they departed on foot, Stanley retrieved a gun from her own car in the parking lot and fired over the heads of the robbers.

That's when Burkinshaw-Stanley ran to her car and retrieved a handgun, firing it into the air in self-defense to ward away the robbers.

"I wasn’t sure if they were coming back or not. I was in fear for my life, my co-workers’ lives, and I did what I thought was right," she told the newspaper.

According to Fox News, the trio of robbers left after another waitress gave them $200.

But being terminated for acting in self-defense is something Burkinshaw-Stanley says she doesn't understand.

"For trying to protect their Waffle House and trying to protect their money and to get their money back, they let me go," she told WSB-TV. "I know what I did. To myself I felt it was right and wouldn’t hesitate, I would do it again."

Burkinshaw-Stanley has since set up a GoFundMe page asking for donations while she looks for other employment because she says she has two kids and her husband is disabled.

"In the heat of the moment, as the robbers left, I ran to my car and retrieved my gun. I safely fired a round in the air in an attempt to scare the robbers who were in the process of getting in their vehicle. Not knowing if they were retrieving their weapon to return to the Waffle House. My shot must have gotten their attention as they rapidly drove off," she wrote on her GoFundMe page. "Due to this action of firing a round safely in the air I have lost my job. I am a mother of three childern and have a disabled husband. Being the sole income, short term assistance would be welcomed to help make ends meet until I can secure another job."

A Waffle House spokesperson declined to speak to either the Times-Herald or WSB.

Watch below via WSB: