Pittsboro credit union branch manager held hostage during tense standoff

At least one person was in custody after an armed suspect entered a Pittsboro credit union and fired two shots Thursday, authorities said.

Posted 4:48 p.m. Sep 12, 2019 — Updated 12:20 p.m. Sep 13, 2019

Sarah Krueger, WRAL reporter,

and

Alfred Charles, WRAL.com managing editor

PITTSBORO, N.C. — At least one person was in custody after an armed suspect entered a Pittsboro credit union and fired two shots Thursday during an ordeal in which the branch manager was held hostage, authorities said.

Chatham County sheriff's deputies and Pittsboro police officers responded to the State Employees Credit Union, located at 35 Industrial Park Drive near N.C. Highway 64, around noon on a report of someone being inside the building with a gun, authorities said.

The Pittsboro mayor told WRAL News that the bank manager was taken hostage during the incident.

"Well, I must tell you that we have always prided ourselves on being such a safe and secure community, that this was a very big surprise to us," said Pittsboro Mayor Cindy Perry, who added that she has worked together with the credit union employee on a town project.

"He is fairly new to the bank," she said. "And I hope that he is able to recover from what undoubtedly was a very difficult situation."

A police source told WRAL on Thursday that officers had arrested someone in connection with the incident.

The Chatham County Sheriff's Office said Friday morning that Kevin Francis Laliberte was booked in the county jail Thursday and was placed under a $1 million bond.

He is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 25 and could face charges of second-degree kidnapping, felony discharge of a weapon into occupied property, possession of firearm by a felon, carrying a concealed gun and injury to real property, the sheriff's office said..

Video from Sky 5 showed a man lying face down outside the building before he was escorted in handcuffs by law enforcement officers to a police cruiser.

Several law enforcement vehicles were parked outside the financial institution, which is located next to an animal hospital.

At least four officers were seen entering the front of the credit union around 1:15 p.m. after the person in handcuffs was escorted away from the scene.

The Pittsboro mayor said no one was hurt during the incident.

People in the area were stunned by the news.

"I cannot imagine being that" hostage, one woman said. "I have no context for understanding what that kind of fear would be like."

An ambulance was seen parked outside near the area, however.

Several deputies from the Chatham County Sheriff's Office took up positions outside the building and it appears that traffic outside the building was diverted as the event unfolded.

Sarah Ball, a woman who works in the area, told WRAL News that a Chatham County deputy told her and her co-workers to stay inside their building until told otherwise.

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