COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — Coweta County authorities are looking for three robbery suspects who threatened to shoot everyone inside of a Waffle House.
The robbery happened around 2:30 a.m. Thursday at the restaurant on Highway 29 in Newnan.
Deputies said the robbers gave a note to a waitress that threatened to shoot everyone unless she gave them money.
A different waitress, Heather Stanley, went to her car to get a gun and fired one shot into the air while the robbers ran to their cars. She said she fired in the air because she didn’t want to hit a nearby gas tank.
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“She made it known she was ready to defend herself,” customer Ben McCoy said.
Stanley said she has since been fired from her job.
“I didn’t know if they had guns. I didn’t know if they were going to their vehicle to get another one and could come back and try to get to the safe, so my instinct was to go to my car and get the gun,” she said.
Stanley said she was only trying to protect the store and her co-workers and didn’t expect to be let go.
“For trying to protect their Waffle House and trying to protect their money and to get their money back, they let me go,” she said.
A Waffle House spokesperson told Channel 2’s Matt Johnson that they are aware of the situation, but cannot comment on personnel matters.
Stanley said she was just following her instinct and would do the same thing again.
“I know what I did. To myself I felt it was right and wouldn’t hesitate, I would do it again,” she said.
Neighbors said they are glad no one was injured by the shot.
“That bullet could have went anywhere, hit anyone, but I definitely think she had the right to defend herself,” Jamika Render said.
The robbery marks the third Waffle House Robbery in Coweta County since September.
Authorities haven’t said whether this latest robbery is connected with the other two.
The police report Johnson obtained made no mention that the waitress would face charges.
Stanley, a mother of two, said losing her job is a huge blow to her family because she is the sole source of income.
“(I’m going to) take a step forward and keep moving on and try to find another job,” she said.
She has set up a GoFundMe page if you would like to help.