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by: Jordan Lippincott

Posted: Dec 29, 2023 / 12:28 PM EST

Updated: Dec 29, 2023 / 12:48 PM EST

METAIRIE, La. (WGNO) — Three employees at a sporting goods store in Louisiana say they are without a job after trying to chase down a shoplifter who stole a gun.

On the evening of Dec. 16, a sales associated at Academy Sports + Outdoors in Metairie thought they were making a sale when they handed the customer a pistol. But the customer took off with the gun, the employee said.

Michelle Sutton, who was working as a team lead at the store, said once she received word on her radio, she immediately dropped what she was doing and jumped into action. Sutton and two other sales associates ran out of the store to look for the suspect, but were not able to locate him.

“I just took off,” Sutton said. “I knew I needed some form of way to help the police.”

Four days after the incident, Sutton said Academy’s firearm compliance personnel terminated her and the two other employees for their response.

Academy’s policy states that employees are not allowed to chase or physically restrain a fleeing suspect. Loss prevention associates or managers are allowed to detain a suspect who’s exited the store by approaching the person at a “non-threatening distance” and asking them to step back into the store.

“Because we did run out the building, even though I and the other associate did stay on the sidewalk, it fell under [that] we left the front porch, as they call it,” Sutton explained.

Nexstar’s WGNO reached out to Academy for a statement, but had not received a response by publication time.

“There’s no clarification on getting [the suspect’s] location for police,” Sutton continued. “I know my store director had said that they want you to be able to get the make and model of a vehicle, you know, maybe a direction in which way the vehicle went.”

But in this case, Sutton said the suspect wasn’t in a vehicle.

Although she would love her job back, Sutton says she’s mainly hoping employees can avoid these types of situations with a change in policy and more training.

“Every store that sells firearms, especially pistols that are concealable, need to have clear policy,” Sutton said. “They need to have extra training. They need to prepare for the unexpected.”

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