DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A former Kroger store manager says he lost his job after stepping in to protect an elderly co-worker from masked shoplifters in a DeKalb County parking lot. Months later, he is fighting to clear his name.
Cellphone video shows masked suspects at the Kroger on North Decatur Road swinging a bag of paper towels at an elderly employee and shoving her. It also shows Michael Self on the ground after he says they punched him in the head.
“As I got away from that door, someone hit me in the back of the head with something,” Self told Channel 2’s Matt Johnson.
Self had managed that location for 14 years until May of last year. He said he went outside not to confront the suspects but to protect a co-worker who had followed the shoplifting suspects outside.
“I literally just wanted to draw the tension away from my associates, get them to stop and everybody just be done,” Self said.
DeKalb County police responded to the store on N. Decatur Road on May 24, 2025, around 8:20 a.m. The case is still open.
Self left Emory University Hospital with a concussion and staples in his head. Three days later, he says Kroger let him go.
“I didn’t even get to talk to the people that decided to fire me,” he said.
Self says Kroger fired him for violating its shoplifting policy and that the termination letter accused him of starting the fight.
Kroger told Channel 2 Action News it cannot comment on personnel issues.
Employment attorney Andrew Beal of Beal Sutherland Berlin & Brown, not affiliated with this case, said more companies are putting it in writing: Don’t engage with shoplifters. What happens if you do is up to them.
“The employee can get injured, as well as a lot of surrounding customers, if the confrontation spreads,” Beal said. “In my own experience, I’ve seen much more in the way of admonishment or warnings rather than full termination.”
Self says he never threw a punch, never chased anyone and never pulled a suspect from the car.
“At no point was I malicious in what I did, and at no point was it for my gain,” Self said.
A GoFundMe has been set up for Self and his family.
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