A 19-year-old Sherman man was arrested Thursday after he allegedly threatened to shoot a health care worker in the head when she told him that she could not exempt him from a COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons.
Josiah Walker on Thursday allegedly went to the Katahdin Valley Health Center in Patten to get a religious exemption from being vaccinated against the coronavirus. He asked the health care worker to fill out a form for his school, Penobscot County Assistant District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said Friday.
When the worker told Walker that a member of the clergy had to fill out the form, Walker became angry and threatened to shoot her in the head, Almy said.
The health center went into lockdown mode after Walker left, and employees later saw him drive by the clinic several times in a white, two-door Honda, Almy said.
As police arrived on the street where Walker lived, his grandmother flagged an officer down and said her grandson had called to tell her what had happened.
She later called police to tell them Walker was in Presque Isle, where he was located and arrested.
Walker is charged with terrorizing, a Class C crime; criminal threatening, a Class D crime; and violation of bail, a Class E crime, according to the Penobscot County District Attorney’s office.
He was due to appear remotely before a judge from the Penobscot County Jail on Friday morning.
Almy called the incident an example of the kinds of threats and potential violence that health care workers face.
Information about why Walker was previously on bail was not available Friday morning. It was also unclear where Walker attended school.
If convicted, Walker faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000 on the Class C terrorizing charge, the most serious.
