CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After shutting down roadways and hours of response on-scene, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department said a stand-off has ended peacefully.
Starting around 11 a.m., the busy intersection of Providence Road and Ballantyne Commons Parkway (which transitions into McKee Road) was shut down after a man pointed a weapon at firefighters, CMPD said. The firefighters had arrived to try and help the man, who was inside a car sitting in the middle of the road.
CMPD's swat team arrived on the scene and negotiated with the man, who eventually was taken safely into custody around 2:30 p.m.
CMPD spokesperson Ofc. Steve Fischbach said the stand-off lasted so long because the man was not initially willing to communicate.
“As long as it takes to end this peacefully," he said during a news conference before the stand-off ended. "We have someone who is not communicating with us.”
The Charlotte Fire Department was the first to arrive on the scene after a concerned person called 911 to report the man and his vehicle in the roadway.
"They were talking to him over the intercom and telling him to throw the weapon out of the car," Tyler Williams, who witnessed the stand-off, described to WCNC Charlotte. "It looked like the sun roof was open so he could obviously hear them."
Just before 2:30 p.m., stand off ended peacefully and the man was being medically evaluated.
"We were able to utilize our armored vehicles along with the fire truck to immobilize his vehicle, make sure it wasn't able to go anywhere," Maj. Dave Johnson said.
During the roughly two-and-a-half-hour stand-off, CMPD officers diverted thousands of cars away from the busy intersection, which sits just north of an interchange with Interstate 485.
"This was a big undertaking," Maj. Johnson said. "Providence and McKee is a major intersection in this part of town so that was a huge lift."