Man waving machete in Rock Hill tells police he’s a missionary from California
Rock Hill police responding to a call Tuesday night about a man in church clothes with a machete found the foot-long knife in his pants, officials said.
Officers with the Rock Hill Police Department were dispatched around 8 p.m. to Bushmill Drive after a man was reportedly waving the knife at passing cars, according to a police incident report.
Two men were located, police said. One of the men, according to the police report, was asked by officers what he was doing with the machete.
“Being stupid,” the man told officers, according to the report.
The men were wearing what police said were “church clothes.”
They told officers they are missionaries from California who were living in the York County area, said Rock Hill police Lt. Michael Chavis.
One of the men said he had been chopping wood with the machete and admitted waving the knife momentarily along the street, police said. Officers told the men that Rock Hill has a city ordinance against unlawful weapons, according to the report.
The Rock Hill city code states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to carry about his person, whether concealed or not, any pistol except as provided by state law, or any dirk, dagger, slingshot, metal knuckles, razor or other deadly weapon usually used for the infliction of personal injury.”
The 12-inch machete was concealed in a sheath that was found in the pants of one of the subjects, police said. The knife was taken into evidence and will be destroyed, according to police.
Both subjects were then searched and no other weapons or anything illegal was found, officers said.
No charges were filed in the case, officers said.
“It was determined there was no threat made to the public so no charges were made,” Chavis said.
