Brown opened up further on his own experience in 2004, explaining that he was standing near the stage when the initial shooting occurred, witnessing everything unfold including the moment when Gale was shot and killed.

“I watched [Gale] get his head blown off when Officer [James] Niggemeyer [shot him], which you’ve got to give him all the respect in the world, that dude’s life has been traumatized by this incident,” he said. “He had to come in and he had to make a decision in about two or three seconds because the shooter had a hostage. He has to make the decision, ‘Do I pull the trigger or not?'”

Brown explained that Niggemeyer wasn’t even on duty, but must have been in the area and seen the call. “He comes in and his whole life changed right there,” Brown said.

“My point is that was a traumatic experience for a lot of people. Not even just the people that witnessed people get shot or the people that actually had to shoot like Officer Niggemeyer or the people [that didn’t] see anything happen… I think it’s very disrespectful to say that was an awesome experience for anyone.”

He said it’s not something he likes to bring up or preach about but it something that happened to him, and he cannot wrap his head around why anyone would say that. He said he knows plenty of people who have been dramatically affected by what happened that night, before expanding on his own first-hand experience.

“Someone got shot right next to me,” Brown said. “As I was kind of running away or thinking about it, because I’m kind of running just because the crowd’s running and I’m getting pushed and stuff. I’m like, ‘I’m not going to get shot in the back, I’m going to turn around and face this guy,’ and literally the second I did that, someone got shot right next to me.”

Brown concluded by saying that he’s not one to criticize people a lot for what has been said. But he cannot respect what he said this time, feeling it to be tone deaf and unnecessary.