Thanks to conspiracy theories that have no foundation in reality whatsoever, FEMA workers trying to help those affected by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina have had to evacuate their posts after threats from an “armed militia” allegedly “hunting” FEMA personnel.
Thankfully, it wasn’t so much an entire militia as it was an armed 44-year-old individual who was arrested as a part of an ongoing investigation of violent threats made toward FEMA workers.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, was deployed in the wake of the devastating hurricane in North Carolina that caused widespread destruction to vital infrastructure, wiping away entire roads leading to small rural communities.
Almost immediately in the wake of the storm, far-right conspiracy theorists began spreading lies about land seizures and being restricted in certain areas. It’s been so vile and widespread that Republican politicians have been speaking out against some of the most persistent lies being drummed up to sow even more chaos in a chaotic time. Most notably, Republican representative Chuck Edwards has dedicated an entire page on his official website to debunking various far-right conspiracies related to Hurricane Helene and the federal response.
But the power of unsubstantiated claims that spread across social media like wildfire is hard to combat. It was only a matter of time before one of the dangerous people who bought into these conspiracies wholeheartedly inserted themselves into the narrative.
On Saturday, a U.S. Forest Service official sent an urgent message to several federal agencies, telling them all that “FEMA has advised all federal responders Rutherford County, N.C., to stand down and evacuate the county immediately. The message stated that National Guard troops ‘had come across … trucks of armed militia saying they were out hunting FEMA.’”
Officials were eventually able to identify the source of the threats as William Jacob Parsons, a 44-year-old from Bostic, North Carolina. He was charged with “going armed to the terror of the public” after he was found armed with a rifle and handgun. The initial report received by the federal agencies said there was a “truckload of militia” involved. So far, investigators have found no evidence of truckloads of people and say that Parsons may be acting alone.
Parsons has since made a bond and has been released from custody.
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