Man accused of making threat says he believed social media reports of FEMA refusing to help

LAKE LURE, N.C. (AP) — A man accused of making a threat that sparked a temporary shift in some western North Carolina disaster recovery operations said he believed social media reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was refusing to help people, but realized that wasn’t the case when he arrived in hard-hit Lake Lure.

During a phone interview with WGHP-TV, William Parsons, of Bostic, read aloud a social media post he made that said “We the people” were looking for volunteers on Saturday to “overtake the FEMA site in Lake Lure and send the products up the mountains.”

“We the people are done playing games,” Parsons, 44, wrote in the post. “It’s time to show who we are and what we believe.”

Parsons explained that he believed FEMA was withholding supplies and that his post was a call for action, not violence.

“So we were going to go up there and forcefully remove that fence,” he said, but he found a different situation than he expected in Lake Lure.

“I went up and saw that there was absolutely nothing there, so I stayed, and I volunteered all day,” he said.

Over the weekend, reports emerged that FEMA workers could be targeted by a militia as the government responds to Hurricane Helene, but authorities later said they believed that the one person arrested, Parsons, acted alone. FEMA has said operational changes were made to keep personnel safe “out of an abundance of caution,” but workers were back in the field Monday.

FEMA has faced rampant disinformation about its response to Helene, which hit Florida on Sept. 26 before heading north and leaving a trail of destruction across six states.

Capt. Jamie Keever, of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, said soldiers called the sheriff’s office on Saturday after a Polk County gas station attendant relayed a “vague threat” made by a customer, later identified as Parsons, that he would “go mess up some FEMA personnel” in Rutherford County, The Citizen-Times reported.

In an email Wednesday, Keever said Parsons was arrested at a Lake Lure grocery store that was a site for a FEMA bus and a donation site for relief efforts.

“It does not appear Parsons was involved in any relief efforts at the time and if so why was he armed,” Keever said. “I think based off of his statement he was prepared to take action with his firearms and take the donations.”

Parsons had an AR-style rifle and two handguns, according to his arrest warrant.

Sheriff’s officials said Parsons was identified as a suspect and charged with “going armed to the terror of the public,” a misdemeanor, and released after posting bond. The sheriff’s office said initial reports indicated that a “truckload of militia” was involved in making the threat, but further investigation determined that Parsons acted alone.

Parsons told WGHP-TV that he had a legally owned gun on his hip and his legally owned rifle and pistol in his vehicle.

A public defender was appointed for Parsons during a court appearance Wednesday, WYFF-TV reported. His next court date is Nov. 12. The public defender’s office didn’t immediately respond to a call seeking comment.