A Libertarian candidate for a North Carolina state Senate seat was taken into police custody Monday after he live-tweeted an hourslong armed standoff with police officers.
Jonathan D. Miller, who is running to represent the town of Cary and other parts of western Wake County in the Raleigh suburbs, posted updates on X as the situation unfolded.
“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,” Miller wrote in a post at 9:41 a.m.
By 2 p.m., police appeared to be closing in.
“I f—ed up and talked to the negotiator on the phone long enough for them to box me in. They have dogs so I’m probably done for,” Miller wrote.
Police confirmed that Miller was arrested around 3 p.m. at a residence on Glen Echo Lane.
“The situation has been resolved, and the individual in crisis has been taken into custody. All pedestrian and vehicular traffic can return to normal in the area,” the Cary Police Department wrote in a post on Nextdoor.
The standoff came after Miller published a series of posts on Sunday suggesting he may be suicidal, as reported by independent journalist Stephen Horn.
“I have decided I no longer wish to live and will be killing myself tonight,” Miller wrote in one post.
“I know this will upset some of you, but I can no longer continue this suffering,” he added. “I hate my life and every moment is painful. Tonight I end that pain.”
The posts caught the attention of local authorities, who went to Miller’s residence Monday morning to conduct a wellness check.
Raleigh outlet WRAL reported that, in addition to posting on social media during the standoff, Miller called the television station several times.
“This morning I was tired, but I had things I needed to do. And I didn’t kill myself,” he told WRAL during one of the calls.
“So I got up and made coffee, 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,” he said.
According to Miller, the officer “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 said.
The standoff led to a partial lockdown at Resurrection Lutheran School, a nearby private school.
At various points during the pursuit, Miller also took aim at the quality of local policing.
“They have been chasing me since this morning,” he told WRAL. “They’re not very good at it. They really probably should get some more training on tracking somebody down.”
Chase Oliver, the Libertarian Party’s 2024 presidential nominee, was among those who weighed in during the crisis, urging Miller to surrender.
“Stop what you are doing and announce where you are and drop the gun,” Oliver wrote in a reply to Miller on X. “Please stop. Folks want you to live.”
Miller is set to face Democratic incumbent Gale Adcock and Republican challenger Philip Hensley in the Nov. 3 election.
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