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The mother of the man accused of harassing, physically intimidating and terrifying students at an event hosted by Black student organizations at UNC-Chapel Hill says she’s been trying to get him mental health help for months.
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When the man, now identified as 45-year-old UNC alumnus Keegan Carlisle Wilson, is released from the mental hospital he was committed to that night, he is set to be charged with disorderly conduct, vandalism, damage to property and assault, according to a UNC spokesperson.
The intruder directed racial slurs towards students, according to UNC police chief Brian James. Students at the event — a “Love Island” watch party — were under the impression that the man had a weapon, and the incident caused widespread panic on campus. Some students were left traumatized and “inconsolable.”
At a faculty council meeting on Friday, biology professor Mark Peifer called this the “most serious incident” to occur on campus in recent years.
When the intruder was apprehended, he told police about his various medical issues and expressed “concerning” thoughts that “tend to lead to an involuntary commitment for mental health,” James told faculty at the meeting.
Wilson’s adoptive mother, 75-year-old state employee Jenipher Riddle-Wilson, spoke to The News & Observer about her frustration and grief about the episode at UNC — and how she feels let down by the system she begged for help.
Riddle-Wilson has struggled with Wilson for years as his mental health deteriorated, according to court documents and her own account. Wilson has bipolar disorder and has not been taking his medication, she said.
“The whole system failed us both. If we had been able to get him in to have somebody evaluate him, the whole thing at UNC would have never happened. I couldn’t get anybody to listen,” Riddle-Wilson said. “Every time he did something, [the police would] come and arrest him, and then let him out on a $1 bail. Then he’d get out, and be really mad.”
That’s what happened just four days before he showed up at UNC, when he was jailed overnight on a charge of violating the domestic violence protective order Riddle-Wilson has taken out against him.
She says this most recent lapse into psychosis has made him “more vindictive and vicious” than she’s seen before. He’s been using artificial intelligence to draft realistic legal documents to use against her, she explained.
“Last time [this happened], he stole my car, he was hearing voices and said that aliens were coming. It was really bizarre stuff,” she said. “But this time, it’s different.”
In early August, Wilson broke into and “ransacked” Riddle-Wilson’s home, court documents show. He was arrested but let out on bail.
She said she went to the Wake County magistrate’s office multiple times, asking for Wilson to be involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. She was told, she said, that Wilson needed to commit an “overt act” before they could do that.
“I said, ‘Do you mean he has to hurt me first?’ And they said: ‘Well, yeah, kind of.’”
The law does not require an “overt act” to trigger involuntary commitment, according to Mark Botts, an expert on involuntary commitment at the UNC School of Government. If Riddle-Wilson was told that, it was incorrect information, he told The N&O. That said, he emphasized that he doesn’t have details on what exactly she did and did not tell the magistrate.
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Under North Carolina law, a person can be involuntarily committed if they are mentally ill and a danger to themselves or others — which can include threats of serious bodily harm or an inability to take care of oneself.
“They didn’t offer anything. Not a thing,” Riddle-Wilson said. “I wanted to get him in there. They wouldn’t do it. He would have never been up in Chapel Hill if they had done what they should’ve done. I’ve been begging, pleading for help, and nobody would do anything.”
Riddle-Wilson adopted Wilson when he was a young boy after marrying his father. Wilson’s biological mother, who suffered from bipolar disease and schizophrenia, died by suicide when he was 5 years old, Riddle-Wilson said.
She said the day she adopted Wilson was “the best day of her life.” She wanted so much to become a mother.
Wilson studied the Romance languages at UNC-Chapel Hill, graduating with a concentration in French, in 2003. He earned a graduate degree in France. He was a part of a choral group at the symphony, she said.
“It has been such a great journey for us up until these last few years,” she said, “and then the wheels just fell off.”
Riddle-Wilson has housed and financially supported Wilson for more than 20 years, until this most recent bout of psychosis. Now, she said, he’s living on the street, without money, food or a change of clothes. She says she can barely recognize him.
Even so, she said she was stunned to hear of Monday night’s events.
“He loves his school,” she said. “He loved every minute of going up there. That was his go-to place when he would be upset about something. He could just walk the campus and feel good. He has fallen down a rabbit hole and no one could help him get back out.”
“If he was in his right mind, he would be horrified and appalled that he scared those students. He would be beside himself. He’s a kind, gentle person when he’s in his mind,” she continued. “… He’s a lost soul right now. There’s just some demon inside him.”
For those who were there on Monday night, the intruder’s actions were terrifying. The watch party drew between 80 and 100 students, who were mostly freshmen students of color. The night is now a traumatic scar in those students’ first weeks of their college experience.
Chief James said that Wilson “was not lucid” when they apprehended him. “He was saying many things that gave us a lot of concern, so it’s hard to gauge what his intent was,” James told faculty on Friday. “But certainly what happened was awful. He got into the building. Racial slurs were used, and certainly our students should never be subjected to that.”
Peifer said that based on what he has heard from students, “there was no doubt in the minds of those 100 people who we’ve seen videos diving under desks that this was a racially motivated incident.”
Riddle-Wilson says Wilson’s decision not to take his medication is on him alone, and she doesn’t want to make excuses for him.
“I love my son, but don’t condone him frightening those students,” she said. “I just know he is not himself and is in a great deal of pain. I can only pray that he gets the medical treatment he desperately needs.”
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This story was originally published September 5, 2026 at 9:34 AM.