FBI: White Supremacist Says He Planned to Kill Jews ‘In the Spirit of Dylann Roof’

A white supremacist planned a terror attack “in the spirit of Dylann Roof” on a South Carolina synagogue, the FBI alleges.

Benjamin Thomas Samuel McDowell, 29, of Conway, South Carolina was arrested Wednesday for allegedly attempting to buy a gun from an undercover agent posing as a hitman for the Aryan Nations. McDowell is a convicted felon and legally prohibited from buying firearms. McDowell allegedly sought the weapon after spending the past month writing Facebook posts about murdering Jews and praising Roof, who was convicted of murdering nine black churchogers in Charleston in June 2016.

According to the FBI, McDowell elaborated on his preferred form of “action” on Facebook.
“Dylann roof did what these tattoos wearing so badass is supposed to be doing they don't give f*** about their white race,” he wrote on January 5. “All they wanne do is stay loaded on drugs the Jews put here to destory white man and they feast on the drugs. they should be Feasting on the enemy that stole their Heritage and their bloodline and trying to run us off of this Earth you can post pictures off****** Viking and swords


Anti-Semitic hate crimes have surged since Donald Trump’s election. In New York City, Jews were the victim of twice as many hate crimes in the first two months of 2017 than during that same period in 2016, the according to the NYPD. Jewish centers nationwide have reported a spike in graffiti and threatening phone calls, with approximately 60 bomb threats called into Jewish community centers in January, CNN reports.