Machete-wielding man scrawls ‘satanic’ messages on NC sorority house, police say
A man armed with a machete painted “satanic messages” in his own blood on a North Carolina sorority house Sunday night, police say.
An officer with the East Carolina University Police Department was patrolling the area near East 5th and Meade streets in Greenville on Sunday night when he was flagged down by a group concerned about the “behavior” of a man nearby who was bleeding from his arms and hands, Capt. Chris Sutton, a spokesperson for the department, told McClatchy News on Monday night.
Police found the machete-wielding man “in distress” shortly after, disarmed him and “deescalated” the situation, they said.
The 25-year-old had cut himself on his arms and hands and used his blood to write “what has been interpreted as satanic messages or verbiage” on the Alpha Delta Pi sorority house and a car parked nearby, Sutton told McClatchy.
No one in the house was harmed, police tweeted earlier Monday. Sutton also said officials believe the suspect used only his own blood to write the messages.
The suspect was treated for his cuts, police say, and no officers were injured. He’s being held in the Pitt County Detention Center and faces charges for injury to real property, Sutton says. Additional charges are possible.
The suspect isn’t believed to be a student, and his motivation is unclear, Sutton says. Officials are still investigating.
But Sutton says nothing like this has happened before and that police believe it was an isolated incident.
“We understand that this is a very concerning situation based off of the hostile threat that was present at the time, but we’re very pleased that we were able to locate the individual so quickly and safely disarm him and to reduce the threat level in such a short amount of time,” Sutton said, adding that the neighborhood is mostly comprised of students and staff.
