An armed North Carolina man was taken into custody after allegedly threatening federal disaster workers providing aid in western parts of the state following Hurricane Helene.

William Jacob Parsons, 44, was arrested Saturday after local authorities said they received a report of a man with an assault-style rifle who made a comment about possibly harming workers with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock areas, the Rutherford County Sheriffs Office said Monday .

Parsons was heard voicing threats by a customer or worker at a gas station, a sheriffs spokesperson told The New York Times .