Circle K Employee Stops Robbery: Keeps Life, Loses Job

Strange things, indeed.

An assistant manager of a Circle K store in Georgia has been fired for defending lives while on the job.

Johnny Jarriel Jr was working in his office when he was attacked by an armed robber:

“I was working in the office when he walked into the back office and caught me by surprise,” Jarriel said. “I had a cashier out front and there were two other customers in the store. Before I even knew he was there he grabbed me from behind and sprayed a whole can of pepper spray in my eyes. It was incredible how bad it burned.

“He grabbed me by the collar and slammed me on the ground. He pulled out a large silver automatic weapon and put it to my head and said ‘give me the (expletive) money you (expletive). I will kill you.’ I said OK, let’s go out front and get it.” (source)

As they were walking to the front of the store, Jarriel took the opportunity to draw his own weapon:

“He was about 10 feet ahead of me and I raised the gun and just started shooting,” Jarriel said. “Everything was blurry because I still had pepper spray in my eyes. That’s when he panicked and ran out of the store.”

The separation notice given to Jarriel lists “Possession/Use of a weapon on company property” as the reason for his termination, but he says his employer knew he carried the gun at work and never said a thing before the incident.

Jarriel has a permit to carry a concealed weapon. He said he knows Circle K has “vague” rules about bringing guns to work, but felt it necessary to be armed because of the amount of crime in the area.

Stores like Circle K aren’t just convenient for customers – they are ideal targets for robbers.  According to the Center for Problem -Oriented Policing, convenience stores have unique traits that make them particularly vulnerable:

Convenience store robberies account for approximately 6 percent of all robberies known to the police. Although this comprises a relatively small percentage of total robberies, the problem is persistent. Over the last 30 years, there has been little change in the proportion of convenience store robberies. Nevertheless, convenience stores in particular locations can be vulnerable to repeat victimization, especially those types of retailers that have large amounts of cash, low security, and few staff and customers likely to resist.

Interviews with convicted robbers revealed that they often selected easy targets assuming that “victims [businesses] will not install preventative measures to stop them.” One study of convenience store robbery victims indicates that more than one-half of the respondents reported subsequent changes in store policy or practice after a robbery.It was also found that a store was most vulnerable to revictimization within the first few weeks after the first robbery.

The organization’s findings regarding physical harm to employees are chilling:

Convenience store employees suffer from high rates of workplace homicide, second only to taxicab drivers.  Customers can also suffer injury from offender assaults. Injuries can result from an employee’s active resistance or from the offender ’s misreading the employee’s nervousness or hesitation as resistance. When faced with an employee who chooses to actively resist and is in a face-to-face confrontation, robbers may resort to injuring the worker to avoid apprehension.

Circle K is no stranger to armed robberies.  A quick internet search revealed page after page of news reports.  Here’s a small sampling:

Circle K clerk shot during robbery on White Bluff Road

Akron: Man Robbed, Shot At Circle K

Deputies look for man accused of shooting Circle K clerk

Sadly, some Circle K robberies have ended tragically for employees and customers:

A Georgia clerk is murdered (this homicide happened in the same Circle K where Jarriel worked)

Circle K clerk dies after robbery, shooting; suspect found dead

Two Circle K clerks dead in Greenacres robbery; separate robberies in 3 other cities

Man robbed and killed after buying snacks at store

Man to stand trial in fatal Circle K robbery

Jarriel isn’t the first Circle K employee to lose his job for stopping a robbery.  In December 2011, a clerk in a Pensacola, FL location was let go for thwarting a robbery – and he wasn’t even armed:

Eric Henderson was unemployed for two straight years before getting a job at a Circle K in Pensacola. Henderson said he’s been working as a sales clerk for the last 4 months. And the job was going smoothly until three robbery suspects showed up.

“She starts yelling shoot him, shoot him!” said Henderson.

Before the suspects had a chance to shoot, Henderson said he saw an opportunity to take the gun from 25-year-old Verna Sealey.

“I grabbed her around the neck and slammed her on the ground and grabbed the gun in both my hands,” Henderson said.

Henderson said Circle K’s policy states clerks are not to provoke, chase or engage a robber. When managers saw the footage of Henderson fighting back, he said they fired him.

“I don’t recommend anybody to put your life in danger, but in my opinion this clerk had an opportunity. He obviously felt like he was in danger and he saw an opportunity to save himself,” Detective Dylan Stackpole said.

Defend your life and those of others, and lose your job.