A member of a neo-Nazi group is facing terrorism charges after allegedly stopping an Amtrak train armed with a loaded handgun and other weapons, according to newly unsealed federal court documents.
The FBI claims that the 26-year-old Missouri man, Taylor Michael Wilson, broke into a restricted area of the cross-country train back in October and pulled the emergency brake in an alleged attempt to derail it. According to the criminal complaint, the train was jolted to a halt in rural Nebraska, and Amtrak staff restrained Wilson as he yelled phrases like, “I’m the conductor, bitch,” and attempted to reach inside his waistband.
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When authorities finally arrived at the scene and arrested Wilson, they found a loaded .38 caliber handgun tucked in his pants and a nearby backpack containing more ammunition, a knife, and a face mask, the Lincoln Journal Star reports.
Wilson was also carrying a business card for one of the largest active neo-Nazi groups in the country—the National Socialist Movement—and had white supremacist materials and “a series of individual PDF files, each with a skill related to killing people,” on his phone, FBI special agent Monte Czaplewski wrote in the affidavit.
“The described documents are possessed and utilized by individuals and groups attempting or planning to commit criminal act or acts of terrorism or violence,” Czaplewski added.
When authorities searched Wilson’s home in Missouri, they found a hidden compartment behind his refrigerator filled with a cache of weapons, ammo, handmade body armor, and white supremacist documents, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
An acquaintance who knew Wilson also told authorities that the 26-year-old had “expressed an interest in ‘killing black people’” and was a part of the recent neo-Nazi protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. According to the Dispatch, he’s also been linked to two alleged hate crimes—a road rage incident in which he pointed a gun at a black woman while driving, and pasting “whites only” stickers at a local St. Louis restaurant.
After undergoing a court-ordered competency evaluation following his arrest, Wilson was approved to stand trial. He’s been charged with an attempted terrorist attack and is currently being held in federal custody without bail.
