EXETER, N.H. — A bar employee helped stop a “dangerous and frightening situation” by pinning a man to the ground after he threatened people in the business with a loaded gun, police in New Hampshire said.

Police said the 49-year-old man from East Kingston has been charged with four counts of criminal threatening with a deadly weapon.

Witnesses told police the man entered the Shooters Pub in Exeter just before closing on Jan. 14 and said he was looking for his credit card. An employee said she didn’t have it. The man said he was going to check the bathroom.

At that point, others in the bar began laughing about something else, witnesses said. The man said if they thought the situation was so funny, then he was going to get his gun.

He removed a pistol from his truck, returned, and pointed it at the four people inside, witnesses said.

An employee pushed the door into the man and shoved him, witnesses said. The two men and the gun fell to the floor.

Police found the man pinned down by an employee. Police said they recovered a .40-caliber pistol with a magazine holding nine rounds with one in the chamber.

The man was being held on preventive detention pending an evaluation. A message seeking comment was left with his lawyer.