A South Bend man with a Confederate flag flying on his Ford Explorer was shot in the face and back after a verbal altercation with a group of black folks outside of a neighborhood convenience store.

Richard Dillman, 28, was shot in the cheek and upper back outside of J & J convenience store on South Bend’s Fassnacht Street around 6:30 p.m. Thursday after a dispute with three young black men, the South Bend Tribune reports.

There are conflicting accounts from witnesses, but in general police believe Dillman arrived at the store with the Cnfederate flag on his vehicle and got into a verbal altercation with the men, which apparently involved an exchange of racial insults.

Some witnesses contend Dillman pulled a machete out of his vehicle before backing up toward the crowd to leave, others believe he displayed a rifle. Regardless, one of the men outside of the store opened fire on Dillman’s vehicle as he was leaving, and hit him twice, according to Fox 28.

J & J store owner Kenny Johnson said “there was a big crowd of people” at the store for dinner.

“He had a big Confederate flag on the back of his blazer,” Johnson told Fox 28. “And he was saying all kinds of racial slurs.”

Police ShotSpotter technology – which tracks gunshots in urban areas – led officers to the scene and they found Dillman about a block away, standing and bleeding.

Cally Baker, Dillman’s friend who was waiting for him to arrive at her home a block east of the store, relayed a different take on the story to the Tribune.

“When he pulled up there some guys standing outside started (provoking) him about the flag,” Baker said. “And I will admit, when (he) is (provoked) he kind of starts to push back.”

“They started calling him what we would call white racial slurs,” she said, “and that’s when (he) said everything back.”

Baker said she heard the gunshot from her house.

“He came up to my door, and when he opened the door he said he got shot, and I saw the blood that was in his mouth,” Baker said. “At first I was kind of shocked, and then of course it scared me.”

Baker told the Tribune Dillman survived the ordeal and is now resting at home.

“He’s still feeling kind of out of it, but I talked to him (Friday) and he said he was feeling OK, just feeling like he got shot,” she said.

Police told the media they’re still sorting through statements from the scene and attempting to determine who actually witnessed the altercation, according to media reports.

“The only thing we know for sure is our victim was shot,” South Bend Police Spokesman Cpt. Phil Trent told Fox 28.

Baker was adamant her friend is not a racist when she spoke with the Tribune.

“I’ve never known him to use any racial slurs. Unless someone (provoked) him, I can’t imagine him just blurting out the N-word.”

She also said she doesn’t believe the confederate flag on Dillman’s vehicle is displayed with any kind of racial connotation.

“It is a Confederate flag, I can attest to that,” she said. “But it has a military emblem on it … so it was something he was proud of more or less because of the military aspect of it.”