An armed North Carolina man accused of threatening FEMA workers while they were helping with recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene said the firearms on his person and in his vehicle at the time of his arrest were legally owned.
"They want to sit here and lie and say I was carrying guns around," William Parsons, 44, of Bostic, North Carolina said, according to WGHP-TV. "I had one gun on me, which was legally owned and sitting on the side of my hip, and I had a rifle and another pistol that were in my vehicle that were both lawful and legal to own."
Parsons was arrested Saturday on a charge of going armed to terror of the public and released that same day on $10,000 bond.
He's accused of posting threatening messages on Facebook urging residents to "overtake" a local FEMA site, in response to rumors swirling that workers were withholding supplies from hurricane survivors.
"We the people are sick and tired of the BS. We the people are seeking volunteers to join us and overtake the FEMA site in Lake Lure and send the products up the mountains this Saturday," said Parsons, according to the station. "We the people are done playing games. It's time to show who we are and what we believe. They want to screw our citizens. Now, we return the favor."
He added, "I viewed it as if our people are sitting here on American soil, and they're refusing to aid our people. So we were going to go up there and forcefully remove that fence."
When Parsons arrived at the site, "I... saw that there was absolutely nothing there, so I stayed, and I volunteered all day," he said, the outlet reported.
He was arrested by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office after they were tipped off about his alleged threats.
This and other similar cases led the agency to evacuate some of its workers in the area as they helped clean up debris and mud affecting some 65,000 residents.
FEMA will now stay in set locations instead of going door-to-door to help people as they have usually done in the past.
