The incident happened just before 10 p.m. in the 7500 block of Netherland Drive.
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Jerome A. Allen, 51, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Apartment complex management said 36-year-old Dario Miranda shot Allen who was trying to rob his wife, 45-year-old Rebekah Quema.
Quema was outside smoking a cigarette when Allen approached her, pulled a gun - later identified as a pellet gun -, and forced her inside the apartment.
Miranda, who was upstairs, heard the commotion, and shot the suspect when the attacker pointed his weapon at the husband, an apartment official told ABC11.
ABC11 has learned that Miranda is a Fort Bragg soldier.
Donna Quiles, the property manager, said the apartment community has many military members among its residents.
"Military people around here, they're gonna have guns," Quiles said. "You can't just go knock on a door and expect not to be met with a gun when you know that the military live here.
"And I support anybody who carries a gun to protect themselves," Quiles added.
Reached at his home Wednesday, the soldier told ABC11 he was still too shaken to talk about the incident.
Detectives are investigating the shooting as a homicide.
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No charges have been filed.