Ledger photo by TIM GULLA With weapons drawn, members of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and Gaffney Police Department surrounded the Rug and Home store near the Prime Outlets - Gaffney on Friday afternoon during a search for an allegedly armed man. Shoppers were evacuated from the building while police covered every exit. The man they were after was later found at a nearby motel. An intense Friday afternoon manhunt near the Prime Outlets - Gaffney ended peacefully with two arrests at a nearby motel, but not before there were some tense moments for workers and customers at the busy shopping complex.

Police responded in force to the Prime Outlets - Gaffney just after 2 p.m. on Friday shortly after an altercation occurred between a security guard at Hamrick's and a man allegedly armed with a handgun.

Believing the man had run into the rear entrance of the nearby Rug and Home store, police surrounded the building to cover all of the exits while other police personnel cleared the building from bottom to top. Customers in the store were evacuated during the search as onlookers craned their necks from nearby parking lots as the show of force expanded.

Roughly a dozen police vehicles surrounded the building and law enforcement officers covering the store's exits had their weapons drawn, some with assault rifles and shotguns.

After determining the Rug and Home building was clear, police then turned their attention to the Prime Outlets. While several officers went into the Prime Outlets on foot, at least a half dozen others continually circled the shopping complex in their vehicles while others searched other nearby businesses on Hyatt Street.

Two people, a man and woman from Asheville, N.C., were arrested a short time later at the Sleep Inn on Windslow Avenue. Both were charged with armed robbery, according to Cherokee County Detention Center records, though police did not release a report about their arrests during the weekend. The circumstances of the charge against the couple, and the altercation with the security guard, were not immediately clear.

A manager who answered a call placed to Rug and Home Friday afternoon declined comment about the incident.