The FBI charged Taylor Michael Wilson with terrorist attacks and other violence against railroad carriers and mass transportation systems in a District Court in Lincoln, Nebraska, according to court documents.
A stockpile of assault rifles, ammunition and White supremacist literature was discovered during a search of Wilson’s home. Wilson might also be connected with two alleged hate crimes in the area.
The charges stem from an October 2017 incident in which Wilson allegedly broke into a secure area of an Amtrak train while armed, forcing the train to stop and threatening Amtrak staff, according to documents unsealed Jan. 3.
The conductor and others subdued Mr. Wilson, then held him and waited for deputies from Furnas and Harlan counties to arrive in Oxford, Nebraska, where the eastbound train with about 175 people was stopped. FBI Special Agent Monte Czaplewski said there was probable cause to believe that electronic devices possessed by Wilson and firearms owned by him “have been used for or obtained in anticipation of engaging in or planning to engage in criminal offenses against the United States.”
An acquaintance of Mr. Wilson’s had tipped the FBI that he had been acting strangely since June, and had joined a neo-Nazi group he had found while researching White supremacy forums online.
An informant told the FBI that Wilson had expressed interest in “killing Black people” and other non-Whites. The informant also said they thought he was responsible for a road rage incident in April 2016 in St. Charles, where a man pointed a gun at a Black woman for no apparent reason while driving on Interstate 70, according to Agent Czaplewski.