William Parsons, a 44-year-old man from Bostic, North Carolina, was arrested after he made threats against Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) workers, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office announced.
Parsons was arrested after county deputies got a report that a man with an assault rifle said he might harm FEMA workers who were providing disaster relief after Hurricane Helene devastated areas around Lake Lure and Chimney Rock.
Parsons was charged with “going armed to the terror of the public.” Deputies say he was acting alone and carrying a handgun and a rifle when he was arrested. He made his $10,000 bond and was released from custody.
Reports last night revealed FEMA authorities had been ordered to stand down in areas of North Carolina after the National Guard found that armed militias were allegedly “hunting” FEMA employees.
Parsons didn’t immediately respond to questions.
On a Facebook page for a William Parsons—who listed his residence as Shelby, North Carolina, which is next to Rutherford County—he posted frequently about defending his 2nd Amendment rights and standing up to government tyranny.
Images of the man and his mugshot align as well.
“I Support AMERICA. I Support The AMERICAN FLAG. I SUPPORT PRESIDENT TRUMP!!!” reads his bio.
His profile pictures over the years are decorated with flairs opposing vaccine mandates and branding himself a Verified Harmful Extremist.
Last year a Newsweek report revealed that the FBI was tracking “anti-government, anti-authority violent extremism.”
According to an anonymous FBI officer, the category included former President Donald Trump supporters. “Yes, in practical terms, it refers to MAGA, though the carefully constructed language is wholly nonpartisan,” they told Newsweek.
That led to conservatives angrily denouncing the report and taking the label as a point of pride, something they’ve been doing for years with varying degrees of irony.
At the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference, one panel was titled “We Are All Domestic Terrorists.”
Parsons’ account also had posts boosting the Three Percenter Militia movement calling for “rebellion.
The Three Percenters are a right-wing militia group that was heavily involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
FEMA announced on Monday that it was going to change how it works in Western North Carolina, where Hurricane Helene hit hard, because of threats made against workers, reported the Ashe Post & Times.
A story from the Washington Post last night revealed that FEMA authorities had advised “all federal responders [in] Rutherford County, N.C., to stand down and evacuate the county immediately.”
According to the message the Washington Post reviewed, the National Guard “had come across … trucks of armed militia saying they were out hunting FEMA.”
“Out of an abundance of caution, they have paused their process as they are assessing the threats. We will notify everyone if and when we are updated,” Ashe County Sheriff B. Phil Howell said in a since-deleted Facebook post.
According to the Washington Post, “the sheriff’s office concluded that the suspect had acted alone and that there were not ‘truck loads of militia’ targeting relief workers.”
After the hurricane hit, Facebook filled up with stories of FEMA and the Red Cross confiscating aid and turning back help from people.
The Daily Dot wasn’t able to confirm those stories at the time, and FEMA denied confiscating supplies in any state affected by Helene. However, the rumors, alongside right-wing criticism of the agency, helped create a swirl of misinformation that stoked resentment and anger toward the agency.
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