Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has come under harsh criticism after he suggested that he would fight a gunman and "not just stand there and let him shoot me," a seemingly dismissive response to the recent mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore.
Now Carson is backing up his supposed bravado, recounting, on Wednesday night during an interview on Sirius XM, his encounter with a gunman in a Baltimore Popeyes restaurant, The Hill reports.
"I have had a gun held on me when I was in a Popeyes," Carson told host Karen Hunter. "[A] guy comes in, put the gun in my ribs, and I just said, 'I believe that you want the guy behind the counter.' "
The former neurosurgeon didn't elaborate on what happened after he suggested that the gunman go target the employee.
Carson has been under fire since Tuesday, when, while speaking on the cable talk show Fox & Friends, he said he wouldn't "just stand there and let [a gunman] shoot" him. Many have called his comments insensitive, The Hill notes.
"Not only would I probably not cooperate with him, I would not just stand there and let him shoot me. I would say, 'Hey, guys, everybody attack him! He may shoot me, but he can't get us all,' " Carson told his hosts.
Read more at The Hill.