A Tennessee man arrested for plotting to destroy Nashville’s power plant

CNN
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A Tennessee man is facing federal charges for allegedly plotting to blow up a power plant in Nashville, an attack that, if successful, could have left thousands of people without power, the Justice Department said Monday.

Skyler Philippi, 24, was arrested on November 2 when he “believed he was a stone’s throw away” of launching a drone armed with explosives at an electrical substation in the Nashville area, according to a DOJ news release. He is charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted destruction of an energy supply.

CNN has reached out to Philippi’s lawyer for comment.

Philippi’s plan was an attempt “to further his white supremacist ideology — but the FBI had already compromised his plot,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the paper. press release.

“This case is yet another warning to those who seek to sow violence and chaos in the name of hate by attacking our country’s critical infrastructure: the Department of Justice will find you, we will disrupt your plot, and we will hold you accountable ” said Garland. added.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court alleges that Philippi told a confidential source in June that he wanted to commit a mass shooting at a YMCA facility in Columbia, Tennessee. In July, the complaint states, Philippi introduced the idea for the energy facility plan to another confidential source.

The complaint alleges that Philippi was motivated by an “accelerationist ideology,” which is “a white-supremacist belief that the existing state of society is irreparable and that the only solution is the destruction and collapse of the “system.”

In a July text exchange with a confidential source, Philippi said: “If you want to do the most damage as an accelerationist, attack the high economic, high tax and political zones in every major metropolis,” according to the complaint.

In September, Philippi, accompanied by undercover FBI agents posing as accomplices, is said to have conducted “a reconnaissance of the substation.” He also ordered explosive materials from undercover officers and discussed plans for disguises, the complaint said.

On Nov. 2, undercover officers accompanied Philippi to where he planned to carry out the attack and acted as his “lookouts” while he attached explosives to the drone in the back of his car, the complaint alleges. Minutes before the planned attack, law enforcement officers arrested Philippi.

Philippi is expected to appear in federal court on November 13.