A Gwinnett County woman says she was fired for calling the police on three robbers who stole thousands of dollars worth of clothes from the Lululemon store she worked at.
Rachel Rogers captured the frightening moments on cellphone video last month When three brazen robbers walked into her store and began stealing thousands of dollars worth of clothing from the store at the Forum Shops in Peachtree Corners.
The 23-year-old told Channel 2′s Michael Seiden that the three men grabbed as much as they could before they bolted from the store where their getaway driver was waiting.
“They’re just full-blown, like, running circles around you grabbing as much as they can,” Rogers said. “And it’s a scary feeling, and you don’t know how to react. So, our reaction is to scream, ‘No! Get out! Leave!’”
Rogers said she and her former coworker Jennifer Ferguson were shaken but uninjured, and immediately reported the robbery to police.
But two weeks later, they were let go and fired after they learned that they had both violated company policy by calling 911.
So how were they supposed to handle this situation?
“Clear a pathway. At least this is what is posted, is a clear pathway, and don’t interact, let them take what they want. Let them take what they have and do not make contact with them at all,” is what Rogers said was what she was told.
She told Seiden that she was frustrated because she’s been dealing with this same problem for the last eight months.
“I’ve experienced it probably five or six times, and I know it’s happened on other occasions when other people are working,” Rogers said.
Investigators say the same group of robbers struck again the following day in Peachtree City where police arrested and charged them with multiple felonies.
“I think it is a lot bigger scheme because the product that is stolen is brought back in by other people to try to return and get money back,” Rogers said.
Channel 2 Action News has reached out to Lululemon multiple times for comment on this story, but so far, they haven’t returned our messages.
The Staff: When stores allow themselves to be robbed, crime will spread as it has. The time is now for someone to stop this nonsense and maybe that will spread and people with take the law back in their hands.