SPRINGFIELD, Mass. >> The mother of a Massachusetts Taco Bell employee charged with using a BB gun to shoot a belligerent customer upset at poor service is a “good man and hard worker” who was defending himself.

Steven Noska was released on $250 bail after pleading not guilty Tuesday to charges including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Springfield police say the 26-year-old Noska used a BB gun he retrieved from is car to shoot a customer who was enraged when no one came to the drive-thru window to take his order at 4 a.m. Sunday. The customer also allegedly banged on the locked front door.

Noska’s mother, Mary-Elizabeth Bewsee, tells the Boston Herald (http://bit.ly/WhppYT ) that the customer got inside and started knocking items off the counter, then attacked her son on the outside.