Deputies in Rowan County, North Carolina ended a nearly four-hour standoff late on Wednesday with the arrest of a man who they say threatened them and claimed to be God.
Deputies responded to a call in the area of 15600 Highway 801 in western Rowan County at approximately 8:30 p.m. A homeowner called to say that a man was trespassing on his property.
When deputies arrived they found 44-year-old Jonathan Paul Mayers holding a knife and sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of a home. Mayers, deputies say, told them that he was “God in the flesh” and that “the whole world was his property.”
Mayers also allegedly told the deputies that their weapons were powerless against him and that if they continued to aggravate him that he would take their possessions.
At one point deputies say Mayers began to put the knife into a sheath strapped to his leg. He then is reported to have told the deputies that he was “the final authority,” and that their laws had no weight over his.
Deputies say Mayers then threatened to kill them and “strip them out” in the front yard and let the animals have them. He then said that he was walking back to the Biltmore House in Asheville where he lived.
When asked if had recently consumed drugs, Mayers said that he had taken methamphetamine about 30 minutes earlier, according to law enforcement.
Deputies called negotiators to the scene. They spoke with Mayers for more than three hours. In the meantime, warrants were secured charging Mayers with second-degree trespassing, communicating threats, and resisting officers.
According to the report, eventually Mayers told deputies that he had to use the bathroom. When he stepped off the porch he approached one of the deputies and allegedly reached for his knife. The deputy deployed a taser and brought Mayers to the ground.
Deputies say they located a Newport cigarette box on the porch that contained a small amount of methamphetamine.
Mayers was jailed under a bond of $50,000.
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