Suspect arrested after reports of threats toward FEMA operations in North Carolina

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN US

Updated 1:43 PM EDT, Mon October 14, 2024


CNN — A North Carolina man was arrested over the weekend for allegedly threatening harm against FEMA employees responding to Hurricane Helene, according to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office.

William Jacob Parsons, 44, was arrested and charged with Going Armed to the Terror of the Public, a misdemeanor, Capt. Jamie Keever said in a news release issued Monday. “Parsons was armed with a handgun and a rifle,” Keever said.

The sheriff’s office began investigating Saturday after receiving a call that a man “made the comment about possibly harming FEMA employees working after the disaster of Hurricane Helene in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock area.” Parsons was found after investigators received information about the color and license plate of his vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office.

Parsons was arrested in his car outside a grocery store that is functioning as a storm relief site, Keever said. Parsons is now free on a $10,000 secured bond, the sheriff’s office said. It was not immediately clear if Parsons had an attorney. CNN was unable to reach Parsons Monday at any of the phone numbers listed in his name.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/14/us/fema-helene-north-carolina-reported-threats/index.html

[MacKasey]

1. Excellent!!

Great News!

[moreland01]

2. A misdemeanor?

Shouldn't threatening people with a gun be attempted murder (a felony!)???

[slightlv]

5. THIS is why they can do what they do

and keep on doing it! We absolutely need Domestic Terrorist laws just as detailed and just as intense as the Foreign Terrorist laws instituted after 9/11, IMO. Until we deal correctly with these people, they're never going to stop. What part of "Want (Need), and is passionate for a killing field Civil War these people dream and fantasize about does our Federal Government not get?????

Where are MY rights to have government help when I need it, free of terror and fear? Where are MY rights to walk into any store or event, and be assured my life is not placed in danger by some Magat idiot carrying a grudge and an MK47?

Oh, yea... I remember now! I'm female (and one long past reproductive age). Regardless of laws for everyone else, I have no right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

[bluestarone]

3. Who posted the bond?

That could be interesting as well!!

[Dave Bowman]

4. Bad idea to release him, he's extremely dangerous and no doubt still armed.

[slightlv]

6. No doubt they released him because they only charged him

with a misdemeanor. Someone should be charging him with interfering with someone's Federal Civil Rights and committing a hate crime. Then lock him up and throw away the damned key! AFTER making an example of him in court!

[Igel]

7. Obscure little law, that one.

Citing https://nccriminallaw.sog.unc.edu/going-armed-to-the-terror-of-the-people/ ,

Statute
This is a common law offense. State v. Dawson, 272 N.C. 535, 541-42 (1968); State v. Huntly, 25 N.C. 418, 418 (1843); State v. Staten, 32 N.C. App. 495, 496-97 (1977) (citing Dawson).

Elements

A person guilty of this offense

(1) arms himself or herself with an unusual and dangerous weapon

(2) for the purpose of terrifying others and

(3) goes about on public highways

(4) in a manner to cause terror to the people.