Self-proclaimed ‘Angel of Death’ traveled from Alabama to California church with huge amount of weapons and threatened to ‘do the Lord’s reaping’: Police

An Alabama man has been arrested and charged after he drove to California and threatened an Orange County church, prosecutors said.

Joshua Michael Richardson, 38, drove from Alabama to St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado Canyon, California, last month after sending a threatening email to “do the Lord’s reaping” at the church, according to a Wednesday statement from the Orange County District Attorney’s office.

Richardson was arrested on August 28 and charged with “felony criminal threats and possession of six high-capacity gun magazines, brass knuckles, and a sword,” prosecutors said. Investigators also recovered knives, a stun gun, body armor, duct tape, rope and walkie-talkies from his truck.

The arrest was made just one day after a shooter opened fire during Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring 21 other people.

Richardson is now being detained in the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange, public records show. The Independent has contacted his public defender for comment.

St. Michael’s Abbey first received a threatening email on August 18, prosecutors said. The sender — identified by investigators as Richardson — claimed to be the “rider of the pale horse,” which prosecutors say is a reference to one of the Four Horsemen in the Book of Revelation.

The sender added that he was “sent to do the Lord’s reaping before his harvest,” which prosecutors say is an “apparent reference to the end of the world.”

“According to the Book of Revelation, the rider of the pale horse is the personification of Death who is given the power to kill through the sword, famine, disease, and wild animals, and is closely followed by Hades, who swallows the souls of the condemned,” the district attorney’s office said.

The sender, who said he was traveling to the church soon, went on to claim he was “Michael the Angel of Death,” and that he chose St. Michael’s Abbey because it still practices Michaelmas, the celebration of the Feast of St. Michael, according to prosecutors.

Investigators say Richardson attended services at St. Michael’s Abbey on August 26. Afterward, he followed the priest into a private area of the church. There, Richardson told him he arrived to do the “Lord’s work” and separate “the weak from the weeds,” prosecutors claim. Richardson also mentioned arriving from Alabama on a pale white horse, according to prosecutors.

The priest contacted the police, and Richardson was arrested on August 28, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

“While incidents like this can feel unsettling, they also highlight the power of community,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement on Tuesday. “If something seems off, say something.”

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said officials “refuse to allow threats and terror dissuade any person from practicing their faith without fear.”

“The walls of our churches are not just symbols of sanctuary; they represent the most sacred places of worship and of peace,” Spitzer said. “No one should have to worship in fear that a stranger would walk through the door with the intent to carry out their own day of judgement and determine who lives and who dies.”