Grocery store clerk fired after stopping purse thief

A former grocery clerk has been fired after he stopped an alleged thief from stealing an elderly woman's purse.

Amir Shedyak, 20, says the incident happened last month while he was working at a Hannaford grocery store in Burlington, Vermt. He says that following the incident, he was fired for violating the "workplace safety rules."

"I just feel that what I had done was not wrong and should not have resulted in me being fired," he wrote in his now viral Facebook post.

WCAX reports that Shedyak worked at the store for 4 years and was employee of the month just one month before this incident occurred. Having just clocked in at work, another employee called for him in a panic.

"And he was like - an old lady's purse just got stolen," Shedyak recalled. Shedyak is a part-time fire fighter and his first instinct was to jump in and help, "I look to my right and I see a gentleman running across the parking lot and he had the purse in his hand."

Shedyak says he grabbed the suspect from behind and held him down, taking back the purse and calling the police.

The suspect got away, but he was able to return the purse to the elderly woman.

"She was trying to offer me money. 'I don't want your money, just wanted to help you out, do what’s right,'" he said in the interview.

Adrian Moore, 29, was later arrested on a larceny charge in connection with the incident, according to police.

Hannaford management declined to comment on "personnel matters" when asked about the incident.

Shedyak has since found a new job, and a friend started a GoFundMe for him.