(CNN) -- A former security guard told CNN on Monday that he was unjustly fired after he took pictures of President Barack Obama's motorcade during a visit to Atlanta in September. 

Kenneth Tate worked for a private security firm when President Obama visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on September 16. 

He told CNN's Brooke Baldwin in an exclusive television interview that he stuck to his assigned duties and tried to take photos after he was done escorting President Obama. 

Members of Congress were upset when the media reported last month that Tate had a .40-caliber handgun while in an elevator with the President. That report, coupled with news of an incident in which a man jumped a fence and made it into the White House, led to the resignation of Secret Service Director Julia Pierson. 

Tate said he was issued a weapon by his security firm on the morning of the President's visit, but no one told him it was a violation of Secret Service protocol for him to carry a gun, he said. 

Tate's lawyer, Christopher Chestnut, said his client was fired unjustly for leaving his post. 

"He should never have lost his job for doing what he was supposed to do," Chestnut said. He added that Tate is not a felon, contrary to prior media reports. 

Tate said he was supposed to take the President to two different floors of one of the CDC buildings. 

"Those tasks I carried out," he told CNN. He said he also was asked to escort some Secret Service agents to the roof and other locations 
What was Kenneth's former job?
A former security guard