Police: Man charged with swinging machete, making threats in GoRaleigh bus station

A man was arrested Tuesday after Raleigh police say he was swinging a machete and making threats at a GoRaleigh bus station. 

Rafael Francisco Cisneros, 49, is accused of swinging a rusty machete and making threats to a  woman, saying that he would "cut her" while inside the GoRaleigh station on South Blount Street.

Arrest warrants added that he made threats to cut the woman and then swung the machete toward a man while inside the station.

Anya Morrison told WRAL News that her boyfriend was the man Cisneros threatened. According to her, he attempted to intervene after he saw Cisneros threaten the other woman. 

“He was telling the girl are you ready to get your neck cut off. He was about to start counting and I was like 'oh my God do not do that'," Morrison said. "And that’s when my boyfriend got up.”

Morrison says Cisneros was very close to seriously injuring her boyfriend. 

“The man was slinging the knife at his face. He slung it at him. He was probably like an inch away from his face for real when he swung the knife," Morrison said. 

According to Anthony Thompson, Morrison's boyfriend,  he was willing to risk his life to save hers. 

“I’m going to protect her life gang. I told her mom, her dad, her brothers and sisters. I’m going to live by that," Thompson said. 

Cisneros was charged with a misdemeanor each of disorderly conduct at a terminal, carrying a concealed weapon, communicating threats, simple affray and going armed to the terror of the people, which means he was carrying an unusual/dangerous weapon in public to frighten people. 

Cisneros was out on bail for two other cases at the time of the incident Tuesday. He has pending charges for assault on a female from July, and two counts of simple assault and a second-degree trespassing charge for an incident that happened on Dec. 5. 

Cisneros is being held on a $5,000 bond. He has not been released from jail as of Thursday morning, according to the Wake County Sheriff's Office inmate portal. 

He appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday. His next court date is February 3. 

This is not the first incident at Moore Square Station involving a knife in recent years. WRAL News covered multiple in August of 2024. We have reached out to RPD asking the following questions:

• How many stabbing have occurred at the bus station in the last few months?

• Has security has been stepped up due to the number of incidents?

We are waiting to hear back.