Ben Carson defends his story about gunpoint robbery at a fast food restaurant

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Candidate told radio host that he was at a Popeye's when gunman came in
Some questioned claims from Carson because of lack of detail and the fact that the Republican is a longtime vegetarian
Comments came amid attention to his other remarks about gun control in the wake of Umpqua Community College shooting in Roseburg, Oregon
Carson defended his Popeye's story on Friday, and campaign says it is not answering more questions about incident that occurred in early 1980s

Published: 22:26 EST, 10 October 2015 | Updated: 05:49 EST, 11 October 2015

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Republican presidential candidate Dr Ben Carson is facing questions about his claims to have been robbed in a fried chicken restaurant at gun point.

Carson has caused controversy with his statements about gun control in the wake of the Umpqua Community College shooting in Oregon, when he said that the victims should have fought back more.

In addition to saying that the Holocaust could have been avoided if European Jews had guns, the candidate recounted a story of how he was robbed at a Baltimore Popeye's while a medical resident at Johns Hopkins University.

However, some observers doubted whether the incident occurred, and why it had not made an appearance in Carson's previous writing.

'I have had a gun held on me when I was in a Popeye's organization,' Carson told Sirius XM radio host Karen Hunter on Wednesday.

'Guy comes in, puts the gun in my ribs. And I just said, ‘I believe that you want the guy behind the counter'.

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Ben Carson has defended his story about encountering a gunman at a Popeye's restaurant in early 1980s Baltimore. Above, he is pictured Friday at the National Press Club in Washington

The Daily Beast questioned the story earlier this week after Carson's advisor Armstrong Williams gave conflicting accounts of how he heard the story from candidate.

He originally said - mistakenly - that the episode appeared in Carson's book Take the Risk.

Williams also told the site that Carson helped 'diffuse' a situation with a gun in the Popeye's, after originally saying that police were involved.

After initial conflicting stories about details of the story, Carson's campaign have said it occurred at a specific Baltimore Popeye's when the candidate was a medical resident. Above, a younger Dr Carson

Baltimore police tweeted that the candidate had not provided enough information to find a record for the robbery.

Carson defended the story to ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Friday.

'Of course they don't have a record if you don't have the specific date. This happened when I was a resident, more than three decades ago'.

Carson's campaign said later on Friday that the candidate would not be answering any more questions about the Popeye's incident.

'Suggestions that Dr. Carson is lying are outrageous. We will not entertain any further discussion on this issue,' his Deputy Communications Director Ying Ma told CNN.

Carson said on to Sirius FM host Jared Rizzi, 'As a God-fearing Christian, it’s something that happened. It’s not something I made up'.

The Daily Beast had also raised the fact that Carson is a vegetarian.

His advisor Williams gave more details to CNN on Friday, saying that Carson was going into the restaurant to get french fries, naming the specific location as the one on Broadway and Orleans in Baltimore, and saying that it occurred between 1980 and 1983.

A police spokesman said Friday that they were looking into the case using the new details.

Carson's Popeye's story came after his statements about the Umpqua shooting were criticized by a survivor of the incident that killed ten including the gunman.

Scrutiny over Carson's remarks on gun control comes after he made controversial comments about the Holocaust. Above, a recent picture of the Popeye's where the incident occurred

'I’m fairly upset he said that. Nobody could truly understand what actions they would take like that in a situation unless they lived it,' survivor Matthew Downing said.

Carson, who is polling second in the race for the Republican nomination, later defended his statements about gun control, saying that his comments about the Oregon incident were probably given to Downing out of context.

He also said that his actions in the Popeye's stick-up were not at odds with his call for a more active response at Umpqua

The candidate told Stephanopoulos on Friday that the two episodes were 'not analogous'.

'It may be that you can't understand that having not lived on the streets but that's a very easy distinction for me'.

Carson had previously said that those faced with mass shootings could do more to stop the gunmen. Above, a child in front of a memorial for those killed in the Roseburg, Oregon, killings