Posted on 06/20/2014 11:47:52 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter
RUTLAND, Vt. - He fended off a robber with a gun and lost his job because of it.
Don Pitaniello said his employer said he violated company policy by having a gun on him at work. He says he is alive, because he did.
Pitaniello carries a gun at all times and says he's fully in his legal right to do so.
"I do, I always have," said Pitaniello, former Mac's employee.
He had his Smith & Wesson .380 Bodyguard on him Sunday night, when he was working at a Mac's Convenience Store on 145 North Main Street in Rutland. Police say at 9:25 p.m. a robber entered the store armed with a knife. Pitaniello said it was that man who walked over toward him while he was at the register.
"I pulled the gun, kept it down, over toward the register," said Pitaniello.
Then the man told Pitaniello to empty the register.
Pitaniello, a Vietnam-era vet, then said the robber started waving the knife in his face.
"I pulled it up and said get out of here," said Pitaniello.
The would-be robber ran out of the front door and the 58-year-old Pitaniello followed him.
Then he says he went around to the side of the store to make sure that the alleged robber didn't try to get back in through another entrance, but he was gone.
Pitaniello reported the incident to police. He then said his employer suspended him for violating the company's gun-free zone policy. On Wednesday he told us they had another meeting and he willingly stepped down from his position after they couldn't come to agreement.
WCAX reached out to the store's parent company who said Pitaniello resigned and that their policies are customary for the convenience store industry.
"I'm not gonna argue or debate it, I understand policy," said Pitaniello.
Pitaniello has a full-time job at Timberwolf Manufacturing but took on the second job at Mac's because his wife Barbara, has a chronic medical condition, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and they need the extra income to pay expensive medical bills.
"It's for us, my time off we spend together. It's for us, that's why I'm working," said Pitaniello.
He contends he chose his life over a job and he will find another one.
"I'll do it again," said Pitaniello.
Pitaniello describes that in the meeting with his former employer, he questioned what they were doing about keeping employees safe, since the store has been robbed several times. He offered to get trained at the Pittsford Police Academy and get certified to guard the store, but they didn't take his offer.
Police are investigating and say the full surveillance video is evidence and cannot be released at this time. The store's parent company told WCAX News that reacting aggressively to apprehend an intruder goes against policy.
He can make better money delivering pizzas than at a crummy convenience store anyway.
“There’s no reason for it. It’s just our policy.”....................
Their next clerk will get their throat slit, or get one between the eyes. Maybe then... maybe then.
Stop buying stuff there.
I am. Mac's sucks and doesn't deserve my or anyone else's business. If they hate the Constitution so much, why do they stay here?
Hey, Vermont has socialized medicine!
The parent company of this convenience store is Sherman V. Allen, Inc/Mac’s Market. The company consists of eight grocery stores, 13 convenience stores and a fuel division, within a three state radius (Vermont, New York and New Hampshire), and employs about 300 people.
Not yet. Probably never will.
I know that, and you know that, but does Bernie the Idiot know that?
Like you say-—what could go wrong in a gun free zone?
i agree. it isn't my job as a ccw to apprehend an intruder. THIS GUY DIDN'T TRY TO APPREHEND AN INTRUDER!!!. he drew his gun to protect himself. he recognized the practical and legal aspects of AOJ (Ability, Opportunity, Jeopardy) and acted accordingly. he is an example of most ccw individuals who exhibit a high degree of self-control and restraint and understand our obligations and responsibilities and take them seriously.
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