Standoff ends 5 hours after man refused to come out of Gastonia motel

GASTONIA, N.C. — A major road that runs through the heart of Gastonia had to be shut down Friday morning while police negotiated with a man they were trying to arrest at a motel.

Officers with the Gastonia Police Department were trying to serve arrest warrants around 4:30 a.m. on William Anders at the Midtown Motor Inn, on South Chester Street/Highway 321, officials said.

SWAT officers carrying long rifles and shields surrounded a room next to a staircase on the motel’s second floor while Anders refused to come out.

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Police said they were trying to negotiate with Anders, working to get him to surrender without putting two women in the room in harm's way.

The standoff came to an end around 9:30 a.m. when Anders walked out of the room and laid on the ground.

Officers had shut down South York Street between Second Avenue and West Franklin Boulevard during the incident but reopened the road around 10:15 a.m.

Anders was booked into the Gaston County Jail under a $122,000 bond. Officials told Channel 9 that Anders, who recently was released from prison, was wanted on a long list of charges in both South Carolina and North Carolina, including assault with a deadly weapon, breaking and entering and leading police on a chase.

Check back with wsoctv.com for updates on this story.

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