Threats against FEMA workers hamper some hurricane aid; authorities arrest armed man

As the Federal Emergency Management Agency temporarily halted hurricane aid operations in North Carolina because of security concerns over the weekend, authorities arrested an armed man accused of threatening federal emergency response workers.

The disruptions to aid service come as FEMA works to combat swirling conspiracies and misinformation about its resources and responses to recent deadly hurricanes, including Helene, which devastated the mountain communities of western North Carolina and much of the Southeast.

On Saturday, the U.S. Forest Service received an email from FEMA, which said a National Guard unit working for the agency “came across some militia members who said they were out hunting FEMA,” according to Jason Nedlo, a spokesperson for the Forest Service’s Southern Area Blue Incident Management Team. The email was first reported by The Washington Post.

“FEMA has advised all federal responders (in) Rutherford County, NC, to stand down and evacuate the county immediately,” an official with the U.S. Forest Service wrote to other federal agencies, according to The Post. “The message stated that National Guard troops ‘had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA.’”

The same day, authorities in Rutherford County, one of the areas hardest-hit by Helene, arrested a man who had made a “vague threat” that he was going to “go mess up some FEMA personnel,” said Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jamie Keever.

William Jacob Parsons, who authorities say was was armed with an AR style rifle and two handguns, was charged with going armed to the terror of the public, an arrest warrant says. Parsons, 44, was booked into the Rutherford County Detention Center on a $10,000 bond, which he later paid and was released.

Keever said “there’s no indication right now that there was a truckload of militiamen,” in Rutherford County, despite initial reports stating otherwise.

“After further investigation, it was determined Parsons acted alone and there were no truck loads of militia going to Lake Lure,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
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