An ex-Starbucks employee in Missouri is suing the popular coffee chain, claiming he was fired for defending himself against a pair of robbers in the store he was working in.

Michael Harris, 20, says he was informed by Starbucks that he was being fired from his job after he and another employee fought off one of the robbers. Harris explained that when the robbery started, he initially tried to de-escalate the situation, but later fought back after one of the robbers “pistol-whipped me in the back of the head.” Harris later learned that the robbers were using a fake gun.

“I’m not pleased with it,” Harris said on Newsmax’s National Report. “I don’t regret anything, because I know the situation could have turned out very differently, and somebody else could have got hurt. And we didn’t know that there was a real gun or a fake one at that time, so I felt I did the best thing I could have at that point, and I felt like I just did the right thing.”

Harris also said that he made “a split-second decision” in fighting off the robbers, which was done to protect himself and those who were in the store.

His lawyer, Ryan Krupp, stated that the evidence he has in this case shows that Harris was exercising his “human rights” to self-defense. Krupp argued that the situation Harris was in changed as it was happening, and that he was in a “run, hide, fight” scenario.

“Michael was assaulted, he feared for the life of himself and his co-workers, and frankly, he did the right thing, and he should not have been fired for doing the right thing,” Krupp said.

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Starbucks has issued its own response to its decision to fire Harris, stating that employees are expected “to follow our carefully crafted protocols” to ensure the safety of its employees and customers. The chain also stated that employees undergo armed robbery scenarios in their training to avoid doing anything that would escalate the situation. The Washington Examiner has reached out to Starbucks for further comment.

Harris suing Starbucks comes several months after exercise clothing outlet Lululemon faced pushback after firing two employees who intervened during a robbery at a Georgia store. Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald defended the decision to fire the employees, arguing that the outlet puts “the safety of our team, of our guests, front and center,” and that the items being stolen are just merchandise.