White supremacist arrested over Nebraska terror attack expressed interest in 'killing black people', say FBI

Agency believes Wilson travelled to neo-Nazi Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville last year, which saw a woman killed and 19 injured

Taylor Michael Wilson is believed to have attended the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville with members of a neo-Nazi group (Getty Images)

A white man accused of attempting to commit a terror attack in Nebraska last year has links to far-right neo-Nazi groups and expressed an interest in 'killing black people', the FBI says.

Police say Taylor Michael Wilson was armed when he was found in the engine room of an Amtrack train, last October, after bringing the train to a sudden halt.

He was subdued by the train's conductor and others, according to The Lincoln Journal Star, arrested, and has now been charged in US District Court in Lincoln, Nebraska, with "terrorism attacks and other violence against railroad carriers and mass transportation systems".

According to court documents unsealed on Wednesday, Mr Wilson, of St Charles in Missouri, had videos and PDF files on his phone of a white supremacist banner, other alt-right postings and documents detailing how to kill people - including a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook.

In an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint, FBI Special Agent Monte Czaplewski said an acquaintance of Mr Wilson's contacted by the FBI said he had joined an "alt-right" neo-Nazi group that he found while researching white supremacy forums online.

Czaplewski also said the FBI believed Mr Wilson had travelled with members of the group to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville last year, where 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed and 19 people injured when counter-protesters clashed with white supremacists, nationalists and neo-Nazis.

An informant is also said to have told the FBI that the 26-year-old had expressed an interest in "killing black people" and other non-white people, according to the affidavit, with Czaplewski adding they suspected Mr Wilson was responsible for a road rage incident in 2016 when a man pointed a gun at a black woman for no apparent reason.

The unsealed court documents also said Mr Wilson was carrying a loaded .38-calibre handgun, a speed loader and a National Socialist Movement business card on him when he was arrested.

The National Socialist Movement is one of the largest and most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the US.

Despite having a permit in Missouri to carry a handgun, Mr Wilson also had a backpack containing three more speed loaders, a box of ammunition, a knife, tin snips, scissors and a ventilation mask.

Mr Wilson's $100,000 bond was posted on 11 December and he was released, but two days later FBI agents searched his Missouri home where they found a handmade shield, tactical body armour, 15 firearms - including a fully-automatic rifle - hundreds of rounds of ammunition, gunpowder, white supremacy documents and several handgun and rifle magazines.

He was arrested again on 23 December and The Lincoln Journal Star reports he remains in federal custody.