A Pizza Hut employee who fought off an armed robber at work is now fighting to stay employed. The delivery driver is worried he may lose his job for fighting off the would-be burglar.
“It was a good old-fashioned gunfight,” he recalled afterward. “I protected [Pizza Hut] like it was my home. I can’t believe that after I protected the store, I’m basically losing my job,” he said.
William Hotop, 31, had just helped close a Missouri Pizza Hut location when the robber smashed through the store’s glass door. Hotop was aware there was a firearm he could use inside the restaurant, so he quickly grabbed it. When the intruder drew a gun out of his hoodie pocket and pointed it at Hotop, the delivery driver returned the threat in kind. “It was like, ‘Oh, s—,'” he told the News-Leader Tuesday. “I know you can’t put that in the news, but that’s the best way I can describe it.” Hotop said he took cover as the man fired more shots, then Hotop chased the man out of the Pizza Hut firing two shots.
Hotop amazingly and successfully chased the empty-pocketed robber away from the store without either of them getting injured, despite each of them firing multiple bullets.
However, it was the response from his employer that left many shaking their heads. Pizza Hut thanked him by suspending him without pay and firing the manager who was working that night. Although the gun he used wasn’t his, Hotop is also concerned he may face criminal charges due to a prior felony conviction that prevents him from carrying a firearm.
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