PA Bill Number: HB2501
Title: In authorized disposition of offenders, further providing for sentence for murder, murder of unborn child and murder of law enforcement officer; and, ...
Description: In authorized disposition of offenders, further providing for sentence for murder, murder of unborn child and murder of law enforcement officer; a ...
Last Action: Referred to Judiciary
Last Action Date: May 8, 2026
Missouri Self-Defense: Pizza Hut worker says he was suspended for defending store in an old fashioned gun fight :: 09/27/2017
A Pizza Hut delivery man in Springfield, Mo., says he’s worried he’ll lose his job after fending off a robber in an “old fashioned gun fight” earlier this month.
William Hotop says he defended his Springfield, Mo., Pizza Hut location like it was his "home." (Google Street View)
William Hotop, 31, told the Springfield News-Leader his Pizza Hut location had just closed when an intruder smashed through the glass door and began fumbling for something inside his hoodie.
PIZZA HUT EMPLOYEE PEPPER-SPRAYS CO-WORKER AFTER ARGUMENT ABOUT TOPPINGS
Hotop, knowing there was a gun stashed inside the restaurant, darted toward the firearm. So when the intruder produced a gun and aimed it in Hotop’s direction, the two men began firing at each other.
"It was a good old-fashioned gunfight," Hotop told the News-Leader. "I protected [Pizza Hut] like it was my home.”
Hotop says he eventually chased the robber from the premises, firing off the gun a few times in the process. Neither Hotop nor the two other employees on-duty were injured, the News-Leader reports, and the restaurant was not robbed of any money.
According to Hotop, however, Pizza Hut has since suspended him without pay, and fired the manager who was on-duty that evening.
"I can't believe that after I protected the store, I'm basically losing my job," said Hotop.
Hotop, too, says he fears repercussions because of a prior felony conviction which prevents him from carrying a firearm — even though the gun he used on Sept. 12 wasn’t his.
A representative for Pizza Hut had not returned the News-Leader's request for comment.
