Georgia Lowe’s Worker Fired After Trying to Stop Shoplifting Gang Making off With $2,000 Worth of Goods

A Lowe’s worker has been fired from a Georgia store for intervening in a shoplifting heist that left her with a black eye.

Donna Hansbrough, 68, attempted to stop a gang of shoplifters making off with more than $2,000 worth of merchandise from her store in Rincon, Georgia last month.

The thieves refused to go quietly and punched her repeatedly in the face, leaving her with a black eye.

Despite her heroic efforts standing up to the criminals, Hansbrough’s was fired by Lowe’s after 13 years for violating company policy that state’s staff who witness shoplifting must not intervene and instead call the authorities.

‘The guy decided he wanted to be let go, so he punched me and grabbed my glasses as I still held onto the cart,’ Hansbrough, who worked for Lowe’s for more than thirteen years, recalled to WTOC.

‘He punched me again and again’ she said tearfully.

The suspects have been named by authorities as Takyah Berry, her uncle Joseph Berry and another man, Jarmar Lawton. Police say both Berrys remain at large.

‘They say that if you see somebody stealing something out the door, not to pursue, not to go out,’ Hansbrough told the Effingham Herald.

‘I just got tired of seeing things get out the door. I basically lost all the training. Everything they tell you to do, I just … I just lost it’ she explained.

‘I didn’t expect to get terminated, maybe a reprimand or a suspension,’ Hansbrough said. ‘I’m going to look for a new job. I can’t sit at home. I’m not that type of person.’

If the shoplifters are taken to trial, Hansbrough said she will assist the authorities with whatever they need: ‘If they do need me, I will be there.’

Detective Vance from the Rincon Police Department said the employee had suffered ‘two traumatic events all at once with being violently attacked and losing her job, her happiness, her peace, all at the same time.’

Lowes did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.

It is the latest incident in a string of cases across the U.S. where employees have lost their jobs for intervening in shoplifting incidents.

In June, a King Soopers grocery store worker in Colorado was fired for filming shoplifters stealing $500 worth of laundry detergent and unloading it into their car.

Santino Burrola sprang into action when a group of thieves targeted the store in Arapahoe County, Colorado, on June 18, filming a now-viral video of the crime in action.

He chased the group out of the store and filmed while they unloaded countless cartons into their car, even peeling off a license plate cover to help track them down.

But his actions allegedly breached the store’s policies on confronting shoplifters, and Burrola was fired on the spot after a meeting with his union rep.

The retail worker’s video of the shoplifters quickly gained traction after he posted it to social media, and it was even shared by the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office as they continue to investigate the crime.

Burrola said as soon as he saw the thieves take off with mounds of laundry detergent, his ‘first instinct was to record.’

As he followed the men out of the store, Burrola was heard mocking the thieves and questioning their audacious heist.

‘Really bro? You gotta resort to this?’ he said in the video. ‘The economy’s not that bad.’

The thugs then attempted to drive away from Burrola as he continued to record nearby, leading him to rip off a tin foil cover to expose their license plate.

But the store took offense to his daring effort, with Burrola saying parent-company Kroger felt he violated their policy against employees intervening in thefts.

Lululemon has also been criticized for firing staff who confronted masked thieves at their Peachtree Corners store in Atlanta.

Two Lululemon employees were fired in May for ‘breaking employee policy’ after brazen thieves stole armfuls of expensive yoga gear and they tried to stop them.

Shocking footage shows masked robbers taking merchandise from displays near the front of the store before rushing out to their getaway car.

Jennifer Ferguson and Rachel Rogers, who were working in the front, claim they were let go for trying to stop them and ‘breaking employee handbook policy’ of not interfering with a robbery.

Lululemon’s CEO later stood by the decision. ‘We have a zero-tolerance policy that we train our educators on around engaging during a theft,’ McDonald said on CNBC. ‘It’s only merchandise.’

Stores across the US are experiencing a sharp rise in crime and some major retailers have been forced to shut down shops due to millions of dollars in losses as rampant theft plagues businesses.

In 2021, shoplifting cost retailers $100 billion.

Stores in San Francisco, New York and many other metropolitan areas have been hit by a rise in shoplifting.

That has caused retailers to put many items behind lock-and-key to try and stop brazen thieves from looting merchandise and walking out of shops.