Standoff ends with arrest of 3 at motel

A two-hour standoff ended without injury Saturday morning after the Spartanburg County SWAT team forced three men accused of armed robbery and kidnapping to leave a Spartanburg motel room.

The Sheriff's Office, Spartanburg Public Safety and the S.C. Highway Patrol participated in apprehending Antonio Richards, 20, of 749 Leonard St., Steven Nesbitt, 18, of 548 Pierpont Ave., and Travis Posey, 26, of 103 New Castle Place, Simpsonville. All three men were charged with kidnapping, armed robbery and assault with intent to kill, said Capt. Billy Norris, spokesman for Spartanburg Public Safety.

Norris said the incident began in the city about 2:30 a.m. when the three men robbed and kidnapped Reginald Hunter of Spartanburg.

Hunter, 28, told officers the men, two of whom he knew, assaulted him as he pulled into the Oakview Apartments at 695 Howard St. Hunter said the men pointed guns at him, stole his wallet, phones and a rental car, a 2007 Chevy Malibu.

According to the police report, Hunter was then forced into the car at gunpoint and made to strip down to his underwear before the men released him. The three men drove off, and Hunter borrowed a car from a relative to look for his stolen car.

"About 30 minutes later, he saw the car in Kensington Manor Apartments on the west side of town and the three guys saw him and began chasing him in the stolen car," Norris said. "He called 911 at this point and reported someone in the stolen car started shooting at him near the intersection of St. John Street and Forest Street, but we don't have any definite corroboration with that."

Hunter managed to evade the men and met with a police officer to give a statement, Norris said.

"The interview process took five or six hours and as luck would have it, as he was going back home he saw the stolen car again and began pursuing it," Norris said.

Only one of the men accused of the crime was in the stolen car at that time and when he tried to evade Hunter, he left the city limits and was involved in a traffic collision near the intersection of Highway 221 and I-85, according to the report. The driver of the stolen car, who Norris could not identify, ran from the vehicle into a room at the Spartanburg Motel 6 where he joined the other men.

Norris said a fourth person in the motel room was not charged in the carjacking and kidnapping, but the man, who was not identified, was later arrested because he was on Sheriff's Office list of 10 most wanted criminals in Spartanburg County.

Norris said the motive for the crime appeared to be robbery. Richards and Nesbitt were both booked into the Spartanburg County Detention Facility, and Posey was transported to Greenville to be booked on previous charges.