FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) – A Fayetteville city councilman says an armed stranger who walked into his church during a New Year’s Eve service handed over his rifle and prayed with the pastor before police arrived.
The Fayetteville Observer reports (http://bit.ly/1ODsUlw ) that the unidentified man entered Heal the Land Outreach Ministries about 11:40 p.m. as City Councilman Larry Wright was delivering his sermon to about 60 people.
Wright says the man was carrying the rifle in one hand, pointed up, and an ammunition clip in the other.
The 57-year-old retired soldier says when he asked the man if he needed help, the stranger was calm. The man began crying and was invited to sit on the front pew.
Wright says police were planning to take the man to a mental health facility.
