Woman, 74, says she was fired from Circle-K after boss didn't believe that crook she tried to stop was armed. Suspect pleaded guilty to weapons charge — and now she's suing.

An elderly Colorado woman told KCNC-TV she was fired from her job at a Circle-K convenience store after her manager didn't believe her story that a crook she tried to stop one night two years ago was carrying knives.

Thing is, though, the suspect reportedly pleaded guilty to menacing with a deadly weapon — and now Mary Moreno is suing the store, the station said.

What are the details?

Moreno, 74, told KCNC she was well-liked during her 16-year stint at the Circle-K in Westminster and went "beyond what they expected of me."

But she explained to the station the good vibes ended when new management took over, adding that higher ups treated her badly and often scheduled her to work alone without breaks, which she said put her in danger.

Moreno was working a night shift at the store on Oct. 4, 2020, when a man came in around 7 p.m. holding what she described as two hunting knives, the station reported.

"I was shaking so bad that I couldn't hold myself still," she recalled to KCNC. "I was just wanting to get him out of there."

Moreno told the station the man asked for cigarettes — but soon it became clear he wasn't intending to pay for them.

"He kept insisting, 'You have to give them to me.' He said, 'You have to give them to me,'" she noted to KCNC.

After Moreno refused, she told the station the man came behind the counter — after which she put up resistance.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

"I pushed his arm, you know?" Moreno told KCNC. "And when I pushed his arm, he took off."

Police later arrested Tyler Darren Wimmer in connection with the incident and charged him with aggravated robbery and menacing with a deadly weapon, the station said. He pleaded guilty to the menacing with a deadly weapon charge, KCNC said, citing a lawsuit filed on Moreno's behalf by the Rathod Mohamedbhi Law Firm.

Trouble only beginning

But Moreno told KCNC trouble was only beginning.

She told the station that despite video of the incident, eyewitness accounts, and Wimmer's arrest, her store manager didn't believe her story.

"He took me in the office, and he said, 'Well, I don't see a knife,' because he watched the video, I guess," Moreno recounted to KCNC. "And I said, 'Well, there was a knife.'"

Moreno's boss even insisted that she apologize, the station said, after which she refused and then was fired.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Lawsuit

Now, she's suing the store, KCNC reported.

"I'm not doing it for money," she told the station. "I'm doing it because of the way they treat their employees."

KCNC said it reached out to Circle-K for comment but didn't hear back.

Former Circle-K employee says she was fired for defending herself during robberyyoutu.be