Fort Bragg Soldier Causes Lockdown After Bringing Assault Rifle to Mall

A Fort Bragg soldier recently horrified mall goers in North Carolina when he walked through the mall armed with military gear, including an assault rifle.

25-year-old Bryan Scott Wolfinger, a soldier at the Fort Bragg military base, was arrested Thursday and charged with being armed and terrifying the public after he was seen walking through the Macy's at Cross Creek Mall with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder.

The young soldier's actions caused the mall to go into lockdown, with 20 police officers rushing the mall at around 6:30 p.m. and demanding shoppers evacuate.

Shopper who were present at the mall during the strange incident recalled the situation as hectic to local media outlets.

"It was really chaotic," shopper Amirah Williams told WRAL-TV. "It was scary. Nobody ever wants to be in a predicament like that. I was panicking. My friends were panicking. Everyone in the mall was panicking. It was just scary."

Another shopper, Zach Charles, told The Fayetteville Observer that he and others were told to evacuate by police.

"We saw a cop holding a rifle," Zach Charles said. "He told us to go ahead and evacuate. I was scared, I left."

Another witness told WSOC-TV that children were especially panicked "and didn't understand why the adults were running. And that's kind of a scary thing."

Wolfinger has reportedly told police that he was planning to have his photograph taken with his military equipment at a mall photo stand when he was arrested by police.