A North Carolina political candidate was arrested Monday following a standoff with Cary police — the culmination of an incident that started with threats on social media and included calls to WRAL to tell his side of the story.
Jonathan D. Miller, the Libertarian Party nominee for a state Senate seat covering much of Cary and other parts of western Wake County, was arrested about 3 p.m. after a long standoff with police near Cary’s Lochmere neighborhood. Resurrection Lutheran School, a private school near the standoff location, was in a code yellow lockdown part of Monday.
Miller’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, had posted a number of messages on social media Sunday night and throughout the day Monday. The posts spoke of feeling suicidal and included apparent references to seeking gun battles with the police.
“The whole police department is chasing me with guns drawn. This should be fun,” a post on Miller’s account said Monday morning, followed by another post saying: “I’ve got six shots and the high ground. I hope they don’t find me, but if they do it’s going to be a hell of a show.”
Officers had been monitoring the posts and tried to talk to him early Monday. According to the Cary Police Department, officers made a welfare check around 8:26 a.m. at Miller’s home on Glen Echo Lane just off Kildaire Farm Road.
Police eventually found him — “He had a firearm and was ordered not to touch it, and he took off running,” Cary police chief Terry Sult said Monday during a news conference — but the incident didn’t end in gunfire.
The standoff lasted several hours Monday in Miller’s apartment complex, ending in his arrest. Police said nobody was injured during the standoff. “He was in a dark place,” Sult said. “Felt like he was on his last leg.”
During the standoff, Miller called WRAL multiple times to tell his story and to offer critiques of the Cary Police Department. He also made reference to the large amount of attention his social media posts received. Chase Oliver, the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president in 2024, was among those who responded to Miller’s social media posts asking him not to take his own life or battle the police.
“Last night I was pretty depressed and suicidal, and I sort of put a suicide note on X, and it has gone quite viral,” he told WRAL during one of the calls. “Actually, millions of people have seen it. I usually get about 50 views on my post, but this one has gone super viral on me. I spent all night crying, and angry, and upset, and depressed, and all the emotions. And this morning I was tired, but I had things I needed to do. And I didn’t kill myself.
“So I got up and made coffee,” Miller continued, “and I had two sips of coffee, and I went outside to have a cigarette, and while I was having a cigarette, a police officer approached me, knew my name, saw that I had a holstered revolver on my hip, so he drew his weapon and told me to keep my hands away from mine. I told him I was going to refuse that order, and I backed away slowly until I was far enough away from him to turn and run, and then I turned and ran into the woods.”
Miller — after hours of being pursued — added: “They have been chasing me since this morning. They’re not very good at it. They really probably should get some more training on tracking somebody down.”
Asked why he called WRAL, Miller said: “I figured this story was probably going to make the news, so I thought you might have some questions for me.”
Asked if he was hurt, Miller told WRAL: “No. Not yet.”
“Are you afraid of getting hurt?” a WRAL employee asked Miller.
“A little bit,” he responded.
Asked why he was hiding in the woods, Miller said: “Because I don’t want them to take me into custody and then lock me up in a hospital.”
He then said he doubted he’d get adequate treatment in a hospital. “If I go to the hospital, I’ll spend approximately 15 to 30 seconds every day with a doctor, and that’ll be my time to talk it out,” Miller told WRAL. “He’ll write me a [prescription] for a drug that doesn’t help, and in a few days I’ll be right back where I’m at now.”
As the police closed in, he told WRAL: “I’ve been running around into the woods all day. You know, sometimes I can see them, sometimes I can hear them. So they’re close, but they can’t find me.”
He added that he was hoping police would ultimately give up the hunt. “I am hoping to wait them out and then disappear and never come back to Cary,” Miller said.
After police took Miller into custody, Cary’s police chief thanked WRAL for taking the calls.
“We were able to coach whoever was talking to him a little bit, and we were able to monitor that conversation with the permission of WRAL,” Sult said. “It gave us some additional insight, very consistent with what we were dealing with. It bridged the gap.”
Miller is running for the seat currently held by Democratic Sen. Gale Adcock. Republican Party nominee Philip Hensley is also running for the seat.
Get Help: County-by-county guide to mental health and crisis resources in NC
If you’re having suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis, call or text 988 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. Veterans can press “1” after dialing 988to connect directly to the Veterans Crisis Lifeline. For texts, veterans should continue to text the Veterans Crisis Lifeline short code: 838255.