Timothy Wilson, a man who died in an FBI shootout in Belton, Missouri, was planning to bomb a hospital providing “critical medical care” during the current coronavirus health care crisis, according to a statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Wilson felt compelled to act when the Belton mayor issued a stay-at-home order to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, The New York Times reported.
The Informant’s Nick R. Martin has unearthed social media posts he says were made by Wilson on Telegram channels using the handle Werwolfe 84; according to Martin’s research, Wilson was “an admirer of the 1980s terrorist group The Order” and was linked to “two active neo-Nazi organizations,” the National Socialist Movement (NSM) and Vorherrschaft Division (VSD). Elon University computer science professor Megan Squire helped Martin with the research.
According to Martin, Wilson was active on Telegram on Tuesday, March 24, writing that he thought the government was using coronavirus as an “excuse to destroy our people,” adding, “Mark my words it’s coming I hope people are ready.” He also commented on COVID-19, according to Martin, writing, “If you don’t think this whole thing was engineered by Jews as a power grab here is more proof of their plans. Jews have been playing the long game we are the only ones standing in their way.”
In the March 25, 2020 statement, the FBI revealed that it had executed a probable cause arrest the day before for Timothy Wilson, 36, at the 100th block of Wilbur Parish Circle in Belton, Missouri. That action came “at the conclusion of a long-running domestic terrorism investigation,” the FBI wrote.
FBI agents went to arrest Wilson, who was armed, when Wilson “was injured and transported to an area hospital where he was later pronounced deceased,” according to the statement from the FBI. The New York Times reported that Wilson was killed in a shootout with FBI agents. It’s not clear whether he died at his own hand or was shot by the agents.
Here’s what you need to know:
Wilson Accelerated His Plan Due to the ‘Current Health Crisis’ & Wanted to Inflict Mass Casualties, Authorities Say
BREAKING: In a statement tonight, FBI says a Missouri man they tried to arrest yesterday who was planning to car bomb a health care facility amid the COVID-19 crisis has died after injuries inflicted during the arrest. Target of long-running domestic terror investigation.
According to the FBI, Wilson was the “subject of a months-long domestic terrorism investigation, which revealed him to be a potentially violent extremist, motivated by racial, religious, and anti-government animus. Wilson was actively planning to commit an act of domestic terrorism – a bombing – and over the course of several months considered several targets.”
The New York Times reported that those targets included “a school with a large number of black students, as well as a mosque and a synagogue.”
According to the FBI, “with the current health crisis, Wilson decided to accelerate his plan to use a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) in an attempt to cause severe harm and mass casualties.”
He considered various targets and “ultimately settled on an area hospital in an attempt to harm many people, targeting a facility that is providing critical medical care in today’s environment,” said the FBI. “Wilson had taken the necessary steps to acquire materials needed to build an explosive device. At all times during the investigation, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force kept close track of Wilson in order to protect public safety.”
In fact, says the FBI, the FBI was prepared to arrest Wilson when he arrived to pick up what he thought was an explosive device but “there was no actual bomb.”
On March 23, 2020, the Belton police tried to quash public rumors relating to COVID-19, showing how the outbreak has that community on edge. “It has come to our attention that an individual has made a post on social media stating that her step-father was contacted by a Belton Police Officer in reference to the stay at home order,” they wrote. “This post claims that people will be stopped to check compliance with the order and that, if they are not in possession of documentation justifying them being in public, they will be ticketed. The stay at home order issued by the City of Belton and Cass County is not a curfew order and is certainly not martial law. Citizens will not be stopped without cause and made to justify their presence in public. There is no letter that citizens need to obtain from their employer to show the police. There is no documentation to obtain from the police department either. Our call center has been inundated with calls reference this erroneous post.”
On March 22, Belton police wrote, “Please Be Aware: A Stay at Home Order for the City of Belton will be effective Tuesday, March 24 through Friday, April 24, 2020. Mayor Jeff Davis has issued a Stay at Home Order for the city of Belton, joining the CORE 4 partners of Jackson County, Missouri; Johnson County, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri, and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, who have announced a Stay at Home Order. Effective 12:01 a.m., Tuesday, March 24, 2020, the order’s intent is to slow the rate of community spread of COVID-19 which, in turn, will help keep our health system and care providers from being overwhelmed. #StayHomeBelton.”
You can read the Belton stay at home press release here. See the emergency order for Cass County here. Cass County had reported eight cases of COVID-19 as of March 25, 2020.
Wilson’s Wife Filed for Divorce in 2019; According to Martin, He Was a Fan of the Order
FacebookWilson with his wife and Game of Thrones actor Jason Momoa.
According to Missouri court records, Wilson’s wife filed for divorce from him in 2019. Court records show the divorce was still pending, and the most recent activity in the case came January 20, 2020.
Wilson’s Facebook page says he’s divorced and his cover picture shows four small children. In 2018, his wife wrote, “Me and my husband went to Louisville Kentucky Wizard Con in 2014.” The picture shows them posing with Game of Thrones actor Jason Momoa.
Martin’s research indicates that Wilson was a fan of the group The Order; he called its leader Robert Mathews “Uncle Bob,” and wrote recently, “Don’t be the cuck that gives up without a fight. Make uncle bob proud.”
According to CNN, The Order was a white supremacist group that existed for 30 years, but the FBI targeted and dismantled it. The group even robbed banks to fund itself. According to the FBI, it was responsible for an attack on a Boise synagogue and the murder of Jewish radio host Alan Berg in Denver.
Britannica explains how the group was affiliated with white Christian identity and Mathews believed taxes were “a conspiracy by the federal government to take money from white Christian Americans and put it in the hands of Jews.” In 1984, Mathews engaged in a shootout with the FBI and died in a house fire when “agents fired flares into the house.” The government then used the RICO act to dismantle the leadership of the group in the 1980s.
ADL has revealed that the Telegram app is a “very popular online gathering place for the international white supremacist community and other extremist groups.” Among them: Vorherrschaft Division, one of the two hate groups that Martin says Wilson was active in online.
In 2019, a Grand Rapids, Michigan synagogue was targeted with posters that said that group’s name on the bottom and contained pictures of Hitler, according to The Hill. One poster read, “A crusade against Semite led subhumans.” It’s called an extremist neo-Nazi group.
The National Socialist Movement, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, is “notable for its violent anti-Jewish rhetoric, its racist views and its policy allowing members of other racist groups to join NSM while remaining members of other groups.” The group used to protest in Nazi uniforms. That’s the second group whose public chat Wilson would post in, according to Martin.
“The National Socialist Movement has its roots in the original American Nazi Party,” writes SPLC. “The NSM is now the largest neo-Nazi organization in the country. The resurgence of the NSM began in 2004, in the wake of the deaths of the country’s two major neo-Nazi leaders…NSM ideology mirrors that of the original American Nazi Party. The group openly idolizes Adolf Hitler.”
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