Four people were injured in the Chatham County standoff that began atabout 1 a.m. Tuesday. S.W.A.T. teams were posted at the scene in the earlymorning and remained throughout most of what turned out to be a very tenseday.
At one point, officers approached the door of the house and weregreeted by gunfire. Authorities say two law enforcement officers and twoother people were injured by birdshot fired from a shotgun.
The standoff reportedly began after 32-year-old Vander Mote entered thehome of his ex-wife. He allegedly told a babysitter to leave before hetook three children hostage in a rural house about 10 miles west ofPittsboro. Family members were able to negotiate the release of two of thechildren (one of the first two children released pictured at left) by latemorning. The two released were Mote's children by hisex-wife. The child he kept with him inside the house was a visitor. Hermother, Kristin Guinn (pictured at right), said she was happy to see theMote childrenemerge from the house, but feared greatly for the life of her owndaughter (pictured at lower left leaving the house).
No children were injured, and none of the injuries sustained wereserious.
Chatham County Chief Deputy Ike Gray (pictured bottom, right) said itwas a tense situationwhich they took very seriously.
Mote recently spent 13 months in jail on a drunk-driving conviction,and was arrested previously for his part in a domestic dispute. He nowfaces, according to police, a host of new charges related to Tuesday'sstandoff, including charges related to the shooting of police officers.
Mote reportedly entered the house taking the children hostage becausehe was upset that his ex-wife has a boyfriend.
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