Man accused of pulling train's emergency brake allegedly belongs to neo-Nazi group
An armed Missouri man arrested for pulling the emergency brake on an Amtrak train in October is allegedly a white supremacist who now faces a terrorism charge, according to newly unsealed court papers.
Taylor Michael Wilson, 26, belongs to a neo-Nazi group, traveled to Charlottesville for alt-right rallies, and talked about "killing black people," his cousin told FBI agents, according to the affidavit filed in federal court.
Authorities found an arsenal in a secret compartment behind his refrigerator, and white supremacy images and how-to guides to killing on his phone, the affidavit says.
Wilson — who has a history of mental health problems and drug use, according to officials — was arrested in October in Nebraska after he allegedly barged into a secure area of an Amtrak train and employed the emergency brake, forcing the train to lurch to a stop.
"The facts set forth in the complaint affidavit indicate that defendant had great potential and the inclination to cause great harm to persons on the train and perhaps others in a nearby community if the train had actually wrecked," a magistrate wrote in a detention order this week.
The public defender who represented Wilson at a detention hearing did not respond to requests for comment, and Wilson's parents did not return a call. The Southern Poverty Law Center said Wilson was not in its database of members of hate groups.
According to witnesses on the train, Wilson seemed half-crazed, making bizarre statements like, "I'm the conductor, bitch" and "What are you going to do, shoot me?"
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They restrained him for police, who found a loaded .38 caliber handgun in his waistband, an ammunition cartridge in his pocket and more ammunition, a knife, a hammer and a respirator mask in his backpack. They also found a business card for the National Socialist Movement, which civil rights groups say is a neo-Nazi organization.
Local authorities charged Wilson with criminal mischief and weapons possession. He was found competent after a court-ordered psychiatric exam and released on bail.
