Man accused of smearing bloody satanic messages on ECU sorority house charged

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Police say a man has been charged in connection to bloody satanic messages found on an ECU sorority house.

ECU Police Captain Chris Sutton says 25-year-old Patrick Canter was charged with injury to real property. He was booked into the Pitt County Detention Center under a $1,500 bond.

Police say they found him armed with a machete Sunday night on East 5th Street and South Meade Street.

Sutton says Canter injured himself and then smeared what appeared to be his own blood on the front of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority house as well as a resident’s white Jeep that was parked on the property.

According to jail records, Canter is listed as homeless. Sutton says they are not aware that he has any connection to the university.

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Police say a man armed with a machete smeared satanic messages in blood on an East Carolina University sorority house and on one of the vehicles of a student who lives there.

Captain Chris Sutton with ECU police said one of their officers was flagged down around 9:00 p.m. Sunday saying there was a man walking around with blood on his hands and seemed to be in distress.

Sutton says they found the man at East 5th Street and South Meade Street and were able to disarm the man in less than five minutes.

“An officer was able to identify an individual and disarm the individual without any further incident,” explained Sutton.

This happened right next to the university’s main campus.

The man injured himself and then smeared what appeared to be his own blood on the front of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority house as well as a resident’s white Jeep that was parked on the property, Sutton said.

Pictures of the smeared, bloody messages continue to circulate on social media.

“I could make out like a couple upside down crosses," said one student, Grant Miller. “It said ‘Hail Satan’ like written in blood, which is strange.”

Miller lives with his friend Zack Downey, an ECU senior, right near the sorority house. “We saw all kinds of social media posts and it was pretty crazy,” said Downey. “It was blood and the guy...it could’ve happened here."

The man, who police have yet to identify, is being seen by medical personnel. Sutton said there is a warrant charging him with injury to real property which will be served when he is released from medical care.

ECU police say the man who cut himself was the only person who was hurt. They say there is no further risk to the community.

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