A former Mobile city councilman has been arrested on terrorism-threat charges after allegedly making violent and disturbing statements to employees at a Hooters restaurant on Airport Boulevard.
William Carroll Jr., 56, was charged with two counts of second-degree making a terrorist threat over the incident, which occurred Oct. 14, according to Fox 10. He was arrested Wednesday and booked into Mobile County Metro Jail, nearly two weeks after the encounter.
According to court documents obtained by Fox 10, Carroll told one employee, “I rape little girls like you” and “I dig ditches and kill people before.” He then allegedly made a similar statement to a second employee, saying, “I kill people for a living and rape little girls like her.”
Police responded to the scene, issued Carroll a trespass warning and told him to leave the restaurant. In a 911 call transcript obtained by AL.com, a manager at the location told police, “He’s not going to come in here and talk to any of us like that.”
Hooters confirmed the incident in a statement to Fox 10: “We are aware of an incident that occurred on October 14 at our Mobile location. The person in question made inappropriate and disturbing comments to a staff member who reported the behavior to a manager. As standard policy, the person was immediately asked to leave and the authorities were notified.”
A Councilman’s Exit After a Contested Race
Carroll previously represented District 2 on Mobile’s northeast side but lost his seat to challenger Samantha Ingram in August 2025. He has since filed a lawsuit alleging Ingram did not meet the statutory residency requirement to run, claiming she had not voted in Alabama since 2006 and had been registered to vote in Georgia, according to NBC 15. Mobile’s municipal elections are nonpartisan, and neither candidate ran under a party affiliation. Fox 10 reported the legal fight has cost Carroll roughly $25,000.
Carroll has previously written on Facebook about his Catholic faith and upbringing, crediting it for giving him “faith and discipline.” In one post about an award he received, he wrote: “As a proud alumnus of both St. Mary Catholic School and McGill-Toolen, this recognition is deeply meaningful. The lessons of faith, discipline, and service I learned there continue to guide me every day from my time as a student athlete to my work serving the people of District 2.”
Hooters and the Mobile City Council had not responded to requests for comment at the time of the original report.
