White Supremacist Allegedly Planned to Use Drone to Destroy Energy Facility: Prosecutors

A Tennessee man who allegedly planned to launch an explosive-laden drone to destroy Nashville’s power grid to “further his violent White supremacist ideology” was arrested over the weekend and charged with federal crimes, according to the Department of Justice.

Skyler Philippi, 24, of Columbia, was arrested on Saturday, Nov. 2, and charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to destroy an energy facility, according to the criminal complaint and arrest warrant filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Philippi was arrested in the back of a vehicle parked near the power station in Nashville just as he was attaching explosives to a powered-up drone as part of a far-right extremist agenda to disrupt society to the point where only White people survive, according to the criminal complaint, which was reviewed by PEOPLE.

The drone was powered up and the explosive device was armed when Philippi was arrested, the FBI alleges.

“As charged, Skyler Philippi believed he was moments away from launching an attack on a Nashville energy facility to further his violent White supremacist ideology – but the FBI had already compromised his plot,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a news release. 

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

He appeared in court on Monday and is scheduled to return on Nov. 13. He remains in custody. 

Philippi’s arrest came after a thorough undercover investigation by the FBI, which allegedly found that he adheres to a far-right ideology called “accelerationism” — which holds that “the existing state of society is irreparable and that the only solution is the destruction and collapse of the ‘system,’” according to the complaint.

“Accelerationism is premised on the idea that steps can be taken to speed up the collapse of the system, to wit: the destruction of the U.S.”

The investigation began in June, when the FBI learned that Philippi told a confidential source about an alleged plan to commit a mass shooting at a YMCA facility near Columbia, according to the complaint.

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In July, Philippi allegedly discussed how attacking large interstate electric substations would “shock the system” and cause other electric substations to malfunction, adding later on that this could “cripple the United States power supply.”

“If you want to do the most damage as an accelerationist, attack high economic, high tax, political zones in every major metropolis,” Philippi texted one of the sources on July 17, the complaint alleges.

On Sept. 11, he allegedly provided excerpts of his “manifesto” to an undercover agent posing as a like-minded conspirators, saying “militancy, and by this extension, radical armed struggle is the only end to protecting and preserving our folk,” the complaint says.

Speaking about the power station during a reconnaissance mission in September, Philippi allegedly stated,  “Holy sh–. This will go up like a f—– fourth of July firework.”

The complaint also outlines how Philippi allegedly told the undercover agents he was going to keep his phone at the hotel they were staying at and bring a flip phone to the alleged scene of the operation.

On Nov. 2, when the agents picked Philippi up from his residence, they told him that the bag next to him contained the explosives and the inert pipe bombs he ordered, the complaint claims. One of the agents replaced the black powder Philippi purchased “with an inert substance so that the pipe bombs would not detonate,” it says.

Just before the operation, Philippi and the agents conducted a Nordic ritual, it says. He also wore a homemade shirt that included the phrase “Kill for Odin,” used by some adherents of Neo-Nazi, White supremacist ideology “in part because Adolf Hitler had an interest in Pagan/Nordic traditions.”

If convicted, Philippi faces life in prison. His public defender did not immediately respond to PEOPLE request for comment.