A man armed with a handgun and a rifle has been arrested for allegedly making a violent threat against Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees working in hurricane-ravaged North Carolina.
William Jacob Parsons, 44, of Bostic, was arrested over the weekend and charged with going armed to the terror of the public, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Monday.
Deputies first became aware of a possible threat to FEMA staff early Saturday afternoon. A person called the sheriff’s office to report that a “white male [who] had an assault rifle” had made a comment about “possibly harming FEMA employees working after the disaster of Hurricane Helene in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock area.”
After a short investigation, authorities obtained the color and license plate of the suspect’s vehicle. Parsons was arrested later that day and taken to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Detention Center.
He has since been released on a $10,000 secured bond.
While the initial report stated that “a truckload of militia” might have been involved in the threats, further investigation determined that the suspect was acting alone, according to the sheriff’s office.
The alleged threat of violence led FEMA to temporarily alter its recovery efforts in areas of the badly hit state. According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service, 95 hurricane-related deaths have been reported as of Tuesday morning,
On Monday, the agency announced it would resume normal operations and outreach in North Carolina following “operational changes” made over the weekend “based on threat information.”
“Keeping FEMA staff safe while they are helping people in disaster-impacted communities is always my top priority,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in a statement. ”I wanted to make sure we protected our staff on the ground while we worked diligently with local law enforcement to understand the full situation.”
FEMA has provided more than $96 million in housing and other types of assistance for over 75,000 households in the state, according to the agency.
However, MAGA-fueled conspiracy theories about the misuse of hurricane relief funds, or even about who can “control the weather,” have quickly spread dangerous misinformation on social media — which has “the potential to seriously hamper storm response efforts or prevent people from getting assistance quickly,” FEMA said.