May 19, 2013
The calls came in Saturday evening, and they sounded serious.
People were hearing what appeared to be gunshots and breaking glass near the Hampton Inn on Highway 70 in Kinston. Authorities swarmed in, evacuated the hotel, and scoured the area for the source of the sounds. They didn't find anything.
It turns out they would have had to look at the Hampton Inn's gas water heaters to discover the source. Officials say the gunshot-like sounds were caused when two of the heaters malfunctioned, and the noise was channeled through PVC pipes used to vent the heaters to the outside.
