Clerk fired 'over illegals' appeals to Rush Limbaugh

Bruno Kirchenwitz (Courtesy Aspen Times)

A 7-Eleven clerk who contends he was fired because of a store shooting incident related to his opposition to illegal immigration says he is appealing to radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh for help.

Bruno Kirchenwitz told the Aspen Times illegal immigration is about the only issue on which he agrees with conservatives. If he gets a chance to speak to Limbaugh, he will sum up his situation as: "Poor white boy get shot at then gets fired."

An official at the Basalt, Colo., 7-Eleven near Aspen contends the worker's dismissal yesterday was not related to an incident two weeks ago in which rifle shots blasted through the store's window in front of the cashier's station shortly after two Hispanic men confronted Kirchenwitz over his U.S. Border Patrol hat.

The June 26 shooting took place about an hour after Kirchenwitz finished his shift. Another cashier and four customers escaped injury.

Kirchenwitz said a 7-Eleven official told him the dismissal was not tied to the incident, but the former employee insists otherwise.

"Freedom of speech takes a back seat to profits," he told the Aspen paper.

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A 7-Eleven spokeswoman did not comment to the Times, explaining corporate policy bars disclosure of personnel matters.

Kirchenwitz said the two men who confronted him came into the store and asked if he was the man who wears a U.S. Border Patrol baseball hat.

Kirchenwitz acknowledged he wears the hat to and from work but never on the job.

The men, he said, threatened him with something like, "We're going to show you what we think of that hat when we catch you alone."

Kirchenwitz told the Times he "smiled and laughed and made jokes, then shooed them out the door."

The men said they would wait outside while he finished his shift, but they left a short time later, at about 9:30 p.m., said Kirchenwitz, who got off duty at 10 p.m. then caught a bus.

The Basalt Police Department has made no arrests in the shooting case but questioned one man identified as a "person of interest" and is attempting to identify and locate a second man.

Kirchenwitz was placed on paid leave while 7-Eleven officials came to town to probe the shooting, the Aspen paper reported. After his leave was publicized, he said, a customer lodged a complaint about a June 9 incident, but Kirchenwitz said he could not recall any altercation and the official who fired him was vague on details.

Kirchenwitz claimed that after starting at the store April 18, he received no written or verbal reprimands and the manager complimented him on his performance, the Times reported.

He says he is angry 7-Eleven won't admit the real reason for his firing, pointing out about 75 percent of 7-Eleven's customers in Basalt are Hispanic.

In a previous Times story, the paper said the issue has "fanned flames" in the debate over illegal immigration, and Kirchenwitz said local residents have supported him.

"People are angry. They are high-fiving me. They're asking how they can get one of these hats," he said.

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