35 years ago: WRAL News anchor Charlie Gaddy had phone conversation on live TV with man holding Robesonian newspaper staff hostage

Hi this is Charlie Gaddy at Channel five

Yeah

Could you tell me who you are and what the

situation is there please My name is Renee Bollinger

I am

I work in advertising and we're still being held hostage

Are any of you in any danger Renee Not yet

Unless I mean unless they tried to storm the building

or something

I think we're okay

Nightfall comes to tie us up and put us around

the windows and the doors

Are there any guns in there Are there two men

or three men Two men in here that I know

of

Are you all in the same room Yeah

Has anybody been hit or injured No no fighting or

anything like that

They seem pretty calm

and they pulled ambulances around the side of the building

That did not make anybody feel good

Have they said to you what they want The governor

martin That's all they want

They want to

have them meet their demands

Are they standing right there with you behind me Would

you would you ask one of them if he would

talk with me Eddie

Hatcher

Eddie This is charlie

How are you Well it's a tense situation and it's

getting more tense by the hour that dark is coming

and I'm afraid that they're going to make an unwise

move

Eddie kind of move

What will you do I mean what Well if they

push it then somebody's gonna get hurt

Well now Renee said that you were thinking about tying

them up when it got dark

Yeah

Line them up in the doorways

If we got we got a swat team down here

become like their first shot and the beloved governor of

this state has failed and not found time because His

political career to get involved in this how can he

get involved in it What do you want to talk

with him since we came in here at 10:00 this

morning Not only my part of this in here upset

I was in here that they called the governor's office

and threat and joining us because the government are you

in there with timothy Jacobs

And is there somebody else in there with you who's

in on this Do you know Can you tell me

who that is Um Eddie If the governor

Eddie if the governor talks with you what what are

you going to ask him I'm gonna give him our

demands which plain and simple and not not extraordinary

What are they Can you tell me Okay We demand

that john D Hunt who is a prisoner in the

Robertson county jail underprivileged charges be transferred to another county

jail with least sev Way until the governor can set

a special prosecutor and task force to investigate the charges

against him

This man is in jail in jail for 14 months

for doing something under the direction and guidance of the

State Bureau of Investigation

But the reason getting too close to one of the

county commissioner's brother's drug ring

They wanted to keep him shut up in jail where

he couldn't tell anybody

All right

We demand that the governor of north Carolina initiate an

investigation into the corrupt Robinson County government including the Sheriff's

department District Attorney joe Freeman Britt and the FBI agents

in this area

That's next

We demand that the recent death of a young black

man who died within the Robertson county jail while begging

for medical attention be fully and completely investigated by special

prosecutor

That criminal charges be brought against Sheriff hubert Stone for

that death

This black man had an asthma attack for 45 minutes

for help and was not allowed to medical treatment and

died in the jail

Mackellar

I don't know his first name McKellar

M C K E L L E R

Okay

Uh okay

Anything try to stay calm

Uh no we're not on the air right now

I'm trying to record this

in here mike we've got to come to the conclusion

That hubert he would rather waste all

Let this story get out Eddie

What are your other demands That's it

That's it

That this county corrupt government investigated by out of state

officials and a special prosecutor to be brought in here

with no ties and and that can be trusted

Eddie

You're the leader of the group aren't you Ok So

people will do about what you say about everything You

all haven't hurt anybody or anything like that

We've had three

We originally had 17 hostages

Three became a little sick

I'll be waiting outside to meet them At this time

We do have 10 hostages

You have 10 hostages now you have nine hostages

Now what happened to the others Negotiate We released two

more just a few minutes earlier today but there'll be

no more released until we get something definite from the

government

So you still have nine and we will keep nine

Are they all newspaper people Even the editor of the

newspaper bob horn and his staff Horn the editor

And do you know any of the other names in

there You mentioned another one

Uh huh

This one Renee Bollinger Roy card

lee Hamilton

mike Major Maley

Tanya dial and Darwin Horton

Okay

Do you know you know these you live down there

right

You know these people do you know all these people

and they all know you uh you have guns in

there

Sure

Do you Can you tell me what kind of guns

they are We have the sawed off double barrel sawed

off single shot

We have uh uh a pistol and we do have

two hand grenades wired to back doors

If they're attempting to be open They will explain

Have you ever done anything like this before Not this

radical

I have protested before and marched

No but that doesn't do anything

Do you mind telling me how old you are Eddie

Do you have a family are they are they have

you been in contact with your family since you've been

in there Yes I have

What do they what do they think about Well they're

down here just got a phone call and she's out

there at the operation headquarters

She said if they did start to shoot she would

she would get shot too because she'd be in the

line

Eddie don't you think the governor is going to try

to talk with you and and then they come back

and tell me that he's being briefed beneficial for his

political campaign You tell me that's our governor but I'll

guarantee you this newspaper staff if we live to get

out getting support from these people

Eddie

What kind of work do you do in north Carolina

with the Tuscarora

The other men in there with you He's a former

employee tribe

You're both on the staff of the Tuscarora

Well what is the latest thing What is the who

besides me Who has contacted you News from all over

as far west from Hawaii

I've been on live with CNN live with Cbs I

couldn't begin to tell you but it's just not I

can't sit and talk on the phone and tell the

whole story what the evidence I have and and and

I can't I don't have time to do that

Well Eddie you don't mind if I call you back

in a little while do you live interview Yeah

Okay

Well take care and try to be calm will you

As long as they become somebody better let these people

see the state people out here with guns I'm worried

about these little local law enforcement officers that we might

suck up

You see what I mean And if they pushed me

into it bingo do a cut in here in a

couple of minutes

Can you stay on the phone with me live Okay

And we try not to use that word you just

used

Hold on just a second from W

R

A

L

T

V

This is an action news five news brief

Good afternoon everybody

I'm on the telephone with Eddie

Hatcher

Eddie is in the offices of robert Sony in in

Lumberton and he is one of the men holding about

nine people hostage

And Eddie are you still on the phone there Alright

Tell me what your plans are

Eddie Nobody's been hurt yet

What do you intend to do We have now barricaded

doors

Were aware of

The swat team is in the area

I've been on the phone with the United States Attorney

General's office

The Department of Justice with the governor's office

But the governor has failed to call

He said he sees this as uh as maybe might

hurt his political career in the future as to how

he gets involved in this

Uh We have doors barricaded at sunset if necessary

Cut all lights of any shots are fired in here

no one will know who's getting shot

But once the shots start then it goes full blast

Eddie What is it that you want What will it

take for you to just put the guns down and

let those people get out of there

What will it take our demands that I spoke of

all day that the governor of this state sending a

special prosecutor and task force to investigate the corrupt government

here in Robertson county

That suppressed the indian people and blacks of Robinson County

and to investigate the State Bureau of Investigation agents within

this district

And you did you grow up there Off and on

I was raised in Richmond County

My daddy was from Richmond County

Do you have a family Yes I do

Have you contacted them since I didn't contact them

They are here now down here and haven't been contacting

me

Uh and word from one of them was if it

starts to go down they go down with it

If it starts to go down direct quote when they

start firing and we will be in the midst and

we will go down with you

Well Eddie I hope you stay stay calm

I'm trying to stay calm when you can't get a

governor that's not concerned with the lives of people here

in this office

And what do you have Well Eddie thank you for

talking with me

We'll have details for you at 6:00 on action news

five The preceding was a special report from Action News

five

on this

come in

Yes yes this was thank you very much

Yeah

How you feeling you want to say for this comedian

Hey guys right

What were you trying to tell us in the courtroom

during the I wanted to make a statement to the

FBI directly not to say that

Why not Eddie got anything from everybody

Jake

10 4 until further reconnection 366 36 10 4 years

back up

Everybody needs to stay clear

What's it mean

to the ground Come on

Wait that might be the third

I don't know

I thought that was mine

This county 30

Okay 17 years old

markets like Maldonado in the greatest africa

Yeah we gotta

All right

The building we're at

I don't know

They just came in the front door and I was

at the front of the building going toward the back

of the building and I saw him as they came

in the door and I heard a strange noise and

I turned around and glanced behind me and the man

coming in the door last had a chain in his

hand and he chained the door and as he did

that the other guy pulled out a gun

It looked like a pump shotgun sawed off shotgun

What did they say He told the reception said this

is a holdup

I didn't hear the rest of it because I had

I kept walking and they evidently didn't see me and

I ran out the back telling everybody else that there

was a hold up

So you left through the back door right when you

saw this Yeah I left through the back door

Yeah

My back

Okay

Mhm

And y'all got enough today without shooting that