Seven-hour standoff at Raleigh apartments ends

Police said that a resident called 911 around 4 p.m. concerned that a friend was suicidal and had a weapon. When officers arrived, the man barricaded himself inside an apartment and did not respond to police attempts to contact him.

Police cars, EMT crews, armored trucks and officers in full tactical gear surrounded the building. Officers evacuated some apartments and kept about two dozen other residents who weren't home when the standoff started from returning.

"(Officers) were running with the armor shields and everything like that to protect them. Then they told us we had to leave the property," said resident Kristy Alston, who was waiting in a K-Mart parking lot a few blocks away from Westgrove Tower.

The standoff ended around 11 p.m. when police smashed a window in the apartment and managed to talk with the man, who then came out, police said.

He was taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation and likely will not be charged, police said. His name was not released. 

Police have not said if the man had a weapon and it was unclear if he was injured.

Residents have been allowed back into the apartment building.