Soldier surrenders to Fayetteville police after standoff in Walmart parking lot

Officers responding to the west Fayetteville store at about 10:30 p.m. found the man inside a car. According to authorities, he was threatening to harm himself.

Police cleared the parking lot, and customers were kept inside the store as a precaution. 

"Cops told us to get in our cars, get back inside the building, because we were in the firing range," Robert Casey, a witness, told WRAL News.

The active duty soldier, who was believed to have a weapon, surrendered at about midnight, and he was taken to a local hospital for an evaluation. His name has not been released and it was unclear if he would face charges.

Fayetteville Police Chief Harold Medlock said the soldier's family called authorities prior to the standoff. 

"We were able to locate him here in the parking lot and through a fairly lengthy negotiation we were able to get him to come out of the car and safely resolve the situation," Medlock said. 

Medlock said standoff calls are some of the most dangerous his officers deal with. 

"In these kinds of things, time works for us," he said. "The longer we can go where we don't have something that is causing a problem, time is on our side. We use that to slow things down, we're very deliberate in our approach, and it worked out well tonight. Everybody is going home safe."

No injuries were reported during the incident.