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Crime

Gun-Wielding Thug Robs TX Carl’s Jr. Employee at Gunpoint…Restaurant Fires Employee Days Later

Sep. 28, 2012 3:29pm Madeleine Morgenstern

Carls Jr. Says Employee Cathy Terry Robbed at Gunpoint Was Set to Be Fired That Day

Image source: WFAA-TV

Fast food restaurant Carl’s Jr. is explaining itself this week after it fired an employee two days after she was held up at gunpoint, pistol-whipped and thrown in a store freezer.

According to the company, Cathy Terry was actually due to be fired the day of the robbery. Sources told WFAA-TV Terry had a history of problems, including deleting hours from employee time cards to save on overtime costs.

Terry was the general manager at a Carl’s Jr. in Mesquite, Texas when, shortly after 6 a.m. on Sept. 17, a man entered the restaurant. He shoved one employee into a walk-in cooler before holding Terry at gunpoint and ordering her to open the cash registers and the restaurant’s safe, according to WFAA-TV.

“My first thought was, ‘This is a joke.’ Really, I thought he was kidding,” Terry told the station. “And then I realized he wasn’t.”

Terry said she tried to resist, telling the gunman the safe was on a timer and she couldn’t open it herself, but he held the gun closer to her neck and face and said, “Yes you can.”

“Do you want to die for Carl’s Jr.?” Terry said he asked. That’s when she agreed to open the safe, but before leaving with the money, surveillance footage shows the man shoving Terry into the cooler along with her employee and then striking her in the back of the head with his weapon.

Image source: WFAA-TV

Terry said she was given two days off after the robbery, but when she returned to work learned that she was fired — for what she was told were unrelated reasons.

“It is unfortunate that Cathy Terry was terminated so soon after the September 17th robbery,” franchise owner RWJP Star Enterprises told WFAA in a statement. “In order to protect Ms. Terry’s privacy, the company cannot discuss the reasons for her termination, but they are totally unrelated to the robbery.”

The restaurant said it had offered counseling to Terry and to the other employee who was there at the time.

Mesquite Police Lt. Bill Hedgpeth described the attack as “brazen.” The suspect, described as six-foot-two and about 180 pounds, has not been arrested.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

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Comments (111)

daveinmichigan
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:25pm
It is just me or does that pistol look a lot like a Marksman 2000K Air Pistol? Here is a link to the Marksman site with a photo. http://www.marksman.com/2000_apistol.php

Look at the slide, it isn’t actually a slide, it is used to compress the spring/piston to blow the BB out of the barrel.

If it was, and he shot her, it would have left her with quite a welt for a few hours. We used to have BB gun fights with his model when I was a kid.

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- 700P
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:35pm
  First thing I thought as well. I mentally imagined being CCW in the establishment and then getting crucified afterwards as a “racist” for shooting (which I interpret as killing) an “unarmed” African American by the media/civil rights organizations.
  
  Report this comment
- JeffersonsPen
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:41pm
  Picked up on that immediatly. It should no way be considered if they catch this trash……..The girl had no idea it wasn’t real. And lets face it a pellet could kill……….Armed? Absolutly!
  
  Report this comment
- Elena2010
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:49pm
  700P – not in Texas.
  
  She was pistol whipped w/it. Plastic does not make for effective pistol whipping. Regardless, when he gets caught, he will go away for a good long while for agg assault and robbery.
  
  Report this comment
- arty6164
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:52pm
  You may be right, sure looks like the same gun. However, that poor girl had no way of knowing that.
  Knowing these thugs though, had it been real he probably would have left no witnesses.
  
  Report this comment
- WarMunger_Al
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 7:11pm
  Elena-
  they won’t catch the guy unless he posts something about it on facebook or twitter.
  
  Report this comment
- starman70
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 8:00pm
  Is she an expert on firearms? Does she know the difference between the BB pistol you citeand a real .45 cal gun? To her it looked real and more than likely 10 times as big as it really was.
  
  As far as te firing is concerned, a company has the right to hire and fire employees and doesn’t have to give a reason. This just happened to be an unfortunate coincidence.
  
  Report this comment
- MCGIRV
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 8:09pm
  You’re right! It looks exactly like a Marksman 2000! I got one! Damn that is really brazen!
  
  Report this comment
- All_Out_of_Bubblegum
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 9:13pm
  Sorry, but I’ve never known anyone in retail “about to be fired” that did not know it was coming, and most certainly members of management.
  
  In watching the video, it does look like a bb/pellet gun and the video of the “pistol whipping” looks like a slow motion arm coming down on her left shoulder. Yeah, the video is IN slow motion, but the movement of his arm as he strikes is goimg a lot slower than the rest of his movements leading up to it.
  
  I’m going to say this was an inside job for a little unplanned “severance” pay she decided belonged to her.
  
  Report this comment
- pavepaws
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 11:29pm
  Maybe she knows him.
  
  Report this comment
- Jive Mickey
  Posted on September 29, 2012 at 9:33am
  “Yes you can!” a familiar slogan. Toy gun or not. The girl didn’t know the difference. Toy or not, if the cops showed up and he made a wrong move, they would have unloaded on his a$$.
  
  Report this comment
ronin_6
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:24pm
Pure class. I guess its true, timing is everything.

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JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:24pm
Well, unless the companies charges of firing is disproved I give this company the benifit of innocent until proven guilty. I say this. because, if she actually was stealing from the employees by not paying them for their overtime work (to I “suspect” cover up for her own incompetence) then I’m sorry, but, that is not a reason to allow her to keep cheating the workers. Therefore, I think I will reserve my condemnation until I know who it is that needs condemning.

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- Ginger30
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 9:30pm
  I used to work for Carls Jr. They try everything to save on labor and cost. I have little doubt that she deserved to be fired especially knowing the fact any state would go after a big company if they fired for bogus reasons after an incident like this (They get a lot of money out of them in fines and fees). Bigger company’s tend to cover their butts when it comes to treating employees (I know since I deal with payroll now) it is the little mom and pop places that tend to break the HR laws and get away with it.
  
  Report this comment
inblack
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:19pm
What!

Another racist black man puts a gun to the head of a white person and we’re talking about firings?

Where is the New White Rhinos promising to murder all black babies?

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- Wango
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 7:08pm
  I hear he choked a baby and stuffed it in a shoe box. Oh, wait that was a white girl.
  
  Report this comment
- ThoreauHD
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 7:44pm
  I hear he choked your baby and stuffed it in a shoe box. See the difference?
  
  Report this comment
- bigman2573
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 10:15pm
  As a black conservative man, you’re racist speech plays right into the left’s agenda.
  
  Report this comment
- Wango
  Posted on September 29, 2012 at 11:55am
  BLACKMAN273 . . .But I’m not a black conservative man, so you’ve got that wrong from the start. Try again, please.
  
  Report this comment
frust@ted
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:18pm
Managers changing employees hours is a common problem in the restaurant industry. Many of these managers are bonused off of hitting labor targets. The software used by restaurants allows editing employee time punches, mainly because employees forget to punch in or out. Most systems track these edits so it is possible to catch a manager who is editing hours. I’m a controller for a restaurant company and have been part of several investigations with edtiting time clocks.

As far as money in the safe that is why restaurants are insured, and i have never worked for a company that does not train their managers to do exactly what the robber tells them to do, stores only carry around $2K on them on a good day, a life is worth much more than $2K.

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Yeah_Buddy
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:18pm
Really, your English is almost as bad as a typical fast food restaurant employee…geez.

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dejavu43
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:09pm
HUH? Would you please translate this into English?

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Mojoron
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:57pm
OK, now your a racist for speaking the truth. In Arkansas minorities are 79% of the prison population. Now I’m a racest. Wanna’ go have a beer?

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Frodo RinosBane
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:50pm
Well, at least now the company won’t have to pay for her injuries due to the holdup. Way to go, Carl’s!

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- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:07pm
  I think she should sue their butts off! Where’s that skank gloria allred when you need her!
  
  Report this comment
- Wango
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 7:02pm
  SOCILASTPRAyER . . .Who’s that liar in your picture?
  
  Report this comment
- M13
  Posted on September 29, 2012 at 11:21am
  Wango who’s the idiot behind your keyboard?
  
  Report this comment
mbean
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:50pm
APB “Suspect is a young black male”

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- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:08pm
  I bet he’s voting for Communist obama!
  
  Report this comment
- Yeah_Buddy
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:17pm
  If Obummer had a son, he’d look like…
  
  Report this comment
- inblack
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:25pm
  That is just racist!
  
  Report this comment
SanMoo
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:47pm
This girl will never be the same. Sleepless nights, looking over your shoulder……etc. If she was reporting things wrong….then the area manager should have worked with her…..but….she almost died doing this stupid job. Firing her was wrong in my humble opinion.

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- Ginger30
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 9:36pm
  So it is okay with you that employees are not getting paid because she is editing their time cards? Yes, I agree what happened to her was frightening but she was a crook to deny people their wages for honest labor. IF I am wrong she can always go to the Texas Dept. of Labor and have them investigate, which they will gladly do cause if Carls Jr is in the wrong the State will get a lot of money with fees and penalties. But like most big company’s they tend to cover their butts and have everything she did wrong on file and tape.
  
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ThePostman
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:33pm
That’s it, I will never go to Carls ever again.

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- loriann12
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:41pm
  Carl’s isn’t the problem,Mesquite is. You couldn’t pay me to live in Mesquite.
  
  Report this comment
- SanMoo
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:42pm
  Good for you! What a creepy place. I worked for someone and had a gun in my face. I quit after that happened. But, you have trama and sleepless nights…..it is the most upsetting thing that has ever happened to me. She will never forget this.
  
  Report this comment
- Exrepublisheep
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:42pm
  Because firing a manager who deletes hours worked from employees time cards offends you?
  
  Report this comment
Kuffar
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:30pm
Yeah, Maybe you had to look. But you know what color he was in the back of your mind… RIGHT?

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joelack55
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:30pm
if obama had a son……

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- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:09pm
  I don’t know – Looks a little like obama to me !
  
  Report this comment
- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:12pm
  obama where were you on the night of Sept. 17th – Don’t give that bull – we all know you weren’t playing president or meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister! Now where were you???
  
  Report this comment
- Wango
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 7:01pm
  I thought he looked more like Allen West . .. except braver.
  
  Report this comment
grimmster
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:30pm
We have conceal carry here in Texas, and not one person in the place had a gun?

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Rowgue
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:14pm
Lol yeah unrelated reasons my ass. She was fired because she opened the safe, pure and simple.

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sgtstubbs
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:04pm
So what is the big deal, Dark guy holds up a burger joint at gun point. Happen hundred time a day. Should have used the drive in lane.

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dblaess
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:03pm
As Chris Matthews would say you posters here are racist and everything you say is coded words, which I will decode soon so you can see how racist you really are. It was racist of Carl’s to have a white person working in the first place.

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Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:01pm
“The suspect, described as six-foot-two and about 180 pounds, has not been arrested.”
——————————————————————
They just described most of the male race. Was he black? He looked black, why not mention that? Don’t they want to catch him?

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- chips1
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:15pm
  People are no longer black or white. People are Green. Dark green in the back, light green in the front!!!
  
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jackact
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:45pm
Maybe Chick-fil-A can now buy Carl Jrs when they file for bankruptcy next week?

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SREGN
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:44pm
Funny how they can’t seem to apprehend many criminals but traffic ticket revenue is way up.

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- smokeysmoke
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:48pm
  dident you know, CHICAGO NOW USES CAMERAS TO WRITE TICKETS… meaning say if you dont have an up to date sticker on your lisence… you get a ticket in the mail… so they have cameras at every intersection adn can track lisence plates… BUT YET CANNOT CATCH CRIMINALS AND VIOLENCE IS WAY UP…
  
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ZAP
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:40pm
Go through all that for $8.00 an hour…..

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- Tom K
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:30pm
  @ ZAP : Just how would the franchise feel if the store manager had been killed on the scheduled day of her firing ? Looks like she did just what most companies tell their underlings to do during a robbery. Hey, she nearly gave her life for you, Carl’s Jr. and she went through some kind of Hell for you. The company says her firing was for other reasons not related to the robbery, but I would think they could reconsider just how she handled herself during the robbery. Of course, during this Obama Economy, employees are a dime a dozen and she can be quickly replaced. Hey Carl’s Jr. – I dare you to train, certify and arm EVERY Employee in your stores in Texas and get the full liability insurance. You could set a national trend ! ” Carl’s Jr. – a safe place for your family to dine. ” I Dare You !
  
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- teebubba
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:57pm
  Florida had a convenience store chain with “Junior” in its name that automatically fired any employee who was robbed while working. They claimed that the trauma of it made the employees useless but everyone thought it was to keep inside jobs from occurring.
  
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Eblaze44
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:37pm
Why is this a story – she wasn’t fired because she was “IT” during the robbery, she was being fired anyway for malfeasance and “cooking” the books. So, she shouldn’t have been fired just because a thug robbed her store and pistol whipped her and threw her in the freezer? She SHOULD have been going to jail with the thief – and for the same reason.

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- grimmster
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:10pm
  @eblaze44 aka encinom.
  And you know she was “cooking” the books, how? Dumbass idiot pos…..
  
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- docvet
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:24pm
  Hey, grimmster: Next time you want to call someone a dumbass, try reading ALL THE WORDS!
  
  According to the company, Cathy Terry was actually due to be fired the day of the robbery. Sources told WFAA-TV Terry had a history of problems, including deleting hours from employee time cards to save on overtime costs.
  
  Report this comment
- Exrepublisheep
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:45pm
  Read Grimm…READ!!
  
  Report this comment
- usedCZARsalesman
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:51pm
  and you are saying that Carl’s Jr COULDN’T HAVE POSSIBLY mad that part up? Deleted hours…IMPOSSIBLE to prove unless they had video evidence or it required some sort of computer reprogramming to pull off…GRIMM is saying that just because “they” say something happened NEVER means that it actually did
  
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- guntotinsquaw
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:04pm
  If this manager was going to be fired for cooking the books, the company would have had a replacement manager present to work the shift and would have fired her before allowing her to complete the shift. Use your head for more than a hat rack. This is a clear case of defamation to decrease a jury award when she sues.
  
  Report this comment
- frust@ted
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:22pm
  It’s not at all impossible to prove. Many employees track their own hours so when they get underpaid they know it. Then you just have to go to the software in the house, it will show the hours edited and who edited them.
  
  Report this comment
- frust@ted
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 5:25pm
  Gunto
  
  Im sure they have very good evidence that she was changing employee hours, if not they are vey stupid because they just added defimation of character to a wrongfull termination suit.
  
  Report this comment
- WarMunger_Al
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 7:25pm
  Real question is, why didn’t they already fire her?
  
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MK75Gunner
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:35pm
“The suspect, described as six-foot-two and about 180 pounds, has not been arrested.” Hmmm, that’s it? Is he white? Hispanic? Black? Well, he can’t be white cuz they definitely would have reported that. Nope, let’s just play the PC game and run around looking for 6’2″ 180 “people”…

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- Dirty Harry
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:45pm
  Exactly right, Gunner. And, given your screen name it’s safe to assume that you know that punk was very reckless with that gun, shoving it in her face with a finger in the trigger guard.
  
  Piece of garbage needs to be euthanized if that catch him.
  
  Report this comment
- progressiveslayer
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:46pm
  He’s black as the ace of spades and if Barry had a son.
  
  Report this comment
- RANGER1965
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:53pm
  It is no longer PC to mention race in a criminal’s description, because the percentage of violent crimes by blacks is much higher. It would show a lack of compassion by the media and could even be subtle racism if the race was mentioned and the suspect was black.
  
  The New World Order marches ever on to that joyous and bright utopia promised by liberal/progressives. Just 4 more years and everyone will be equal with everyone else.
  
  Of course some will be a little more equal than others.
  
  Report this comment
- KevINtampa
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:56pm
  It’s gotten to the point where it’s worse than if newspapers just went ahead and stated the race. Since articles now in most cases establish the perpetrator as white in the cases where the perp is white, when race isn’t disclosed people just assume the suspect is black or Hispanic. This actually encourages people to develop and process things in a prejudice mindset. Imagine that, deliberate ignorance towards race causes racism.
  
  The argument the left used in the past that actually helped was when they asked for dialogue regarding race relations. This helped. We need to restart that dialogue now, but the same people who called for it in the past are now the ones that don’t even want anyone to mention race in any context that isn’t apologetic in some fashion, other wise they raise the racism flag. This attitude has damaged race relations and any progress they did make have regressed decades because of their new attitude.
  
  These people need to change their name from Progressive to Regressive.
  
  Report this comment
- Cavallo
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:59pm
  How do you know he wasn’t a 6’2″ oompa loompa laid off from that evil capitalist Willy Wonka. What a racist you are to assume that oompa loompas don’t commit crimes.
  
  Report this comment
- Tom K
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:03pm
  @ MK75GUNNER : Our local Liberal Newspaper and a couple of local TV News programs refused to report the race of criminal suspects, so as not to offend anyone. Just one more reason to dump Political Correctness. Giving the race of the suspect in this case would quickly eliminate red,yellow, white, green and blue, 6 ‘ 2″ – 180 pound males. If you see something, say something – but first, tell me what I am looking for !
  
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progressiveslayer
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 3:34pm
The thug said ‘yes you can’, I heard a jug eared thug say something similar four years ago.

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- idaho1
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:03pm
  Awesome, except if memory serves correctly, it was “Yes we can”, but funny just the same.
  
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- Wango
  Posted on September 28, 2012 at 7:06pm
  Well, nobody ever said conservatives know what they were talking about. You only got 33.3% of the quote wrong. Pretty good for you, actually. If only the Patriot Act were passed a couple years earlier and squashed more of our civil liberties like you wished, maybe this young punk could have been swept up in the net.
  
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