Store Clerk Fired After Scaring Would-Be Robber With His Gun

A convenience store clerk’s choice to save his life have cost him his job.

Don Pitaniello, 58, said he was preparing to close Mac’s Convenience Store in Rutland, Vermont, on Sunday when a man wearing a hoodie and a bandanna covering his face walked into the store and demanded Pitaniello empty the register.

“I looked up when I heard the doorbell rang and saw the hoodie, the bandana and a bag in his hand,” Pitaniello told the ABC News.

“I knew his intentions as soon as he came in,” Pitaniello said.

Pitaniello was going to comply, he said, but then the intruder laid his knife on the counter.

"That was when I felt that the incident turned from a robbery into an assault," Pitaniello said.

The Vietnam veteran reached for his gun, a .380-caliber handgun that he had carried all his life, and scared off the would-be robber.

After the masked man took off, Pitaniello called 911.

Although Pitaniello's act may have saved his life, it apparently cost him his night job. He was suspended on Monday for violating the store policy against bringing firearms to work.

Read more at http://abcnews.go.com/US/store-clerk-fired-scaring-robber-gun/story?id=2...