FAYETTEVILLE -- Police say they arrested a local man Wednesday night after he pointed a gun and threatened another man in the parking lot of a College Avenue restaurant.
Harris Freeman, 20, of 4123 N. Cadillac Drive, No. 2, in Fayetteville, was arrested in connection with aggravated assault. Freeman was taken to the Washington County Detention Center, according to a preliminary report from the Fayetteville Police Department.
Officers were sent to the Black Bear Diner at 4078 N. College Ave. around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday after receiving several calls reporting an armed person. According to the report, several callers said a white man was holding a black man at gunpoint in the parking lot.
When officers arrived they spoke with the victim, who said he had been trying to back into a parking space when another car came around a corner and met his vehicle head-on. The man, whose name police did not release, told officers the driver of the second vehicle, later identified as Freeman, stopped in the parking lot.
The man said he asked Freeman "what the problem was" and saw Freeman looking for something in his vehicle. Freeman retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and pointed it at the victim. Freeman got out of his vehicle and continued pointing the gun at the man, according to the report. The man said he yelled at Freeman but never displayed a firearm during the incident. The man said Freeman continued to point the weapon at him until he got back into his car and drove away.
Witnesses inside the restaurant provided police video of the incident and a license plate number for a black Honda Civic. The car was registered to Freeman.
Other officers saw Freeman's car enter a parking lot at 4201 N. Shiloh Drive and made a traffic stop. Freeman was taken into custody without incident and police said they found a 9 mm handgun in the front passenger seat of the Honda.
Freeman told police he had honked his horn at the other man because of the way he was driving. He said he feared for his safety and that his "problem solver" was in the car so he grabbed his gun, exited his car and pointed the gun at the man, according to the report.
Freeman told officers he spoke to the man, saying "Are you willing to die?" and "If you touch me I will shoot you." He said he did not call the police because he had "solved the problem," according to the report.