Man who brought gun to North Carolina church returns to apologize

Larry Wright, a pastor from North Carolina, says he managed to disarm the man and pray with him before police arrived on the scene in Fayetteville.

The man, whose name has not yet been released, reportedly walked into Heal the Land Outreach Ministries in Fayetteville, North Carolina approximately 20 minutes before midnight, saying that the Lord had told him to go to the church prior to doing something wrong.

The retired Army sergeant, 57, walked over to the individual and asked: “Can I help you?“.

But instead of him using his 6-foot-2, 230-pound body to tackle the armed newcomer, Pastor Larry Wright said he embraced and ministered to him after the latter told him that all he wanted was his prayer, CNN reported.

He then asked four deacons to hug the man, who fell to his knees and began crying.

“I want to follow up with him and see that he’s getting the help and resources he needs”, the pastor said. The man was invited to sit in the front pew, then approached Wright after the service. “It was like a father embracing a son”.

“I pray that he comes back and visits us”.

But Wright asked them to wait outside as the service was underway and the man was receiving ministry. The man then stood up and apologized to the more than 60 churchgoers, telling them that he had planned to commit violence that night but that God had intervened. “I’m not scared of him, not now”, church member Lucrecia Hall told WRAL.

“I think that night the spirit of God was definitely in the place“, Loving, 67, said.

“It’s so hard to describe, to explain the excitement and love of God in the room”, Wright told CNN.

“I saw in his eyes hopelessness, hurt, pain, despair”, said Wright to WRAL.

People had seen the man pacing in the parking lot before the Watch Night service, which started at 10 p.m. “This man came in to do harm and he has given his life to Christ”.

The Fayetteville Observer said police spokesman Lt. David McLaurin indicated the man had gone to a medical center as a voluntary commitment. But he said that his wife had just been diagnosed with a disease, he was struggling financially and is a veteran also struggling with PTSD and affording his medication, WRAL reports.