White Supremacists Busted in Plot To Attack Synagogues and Black Churches
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have arrested two white supremacists in Virginia who were planning to attack black churches and Jewish synagogues with guns and bombs, authorities said on Tuesday.
Convicted felons Robert Doyle, 34, and Ronald Chaney, 33, are facing charges for trying to purchase weapons from undercover FBI agents posing as illegal dealers, an arrest affidavit filed on Monday by an FBI agent said.
Lawyers for the men were not immediately available for comment.
The FBI received information that there would be a meeting at Doyle’s residence in late September “to discuss acting out in furtherance of their extremist beliefs by shooting or bombing the occupants of black churches and Jewish synagogues,” the affidavit reads.
They also plotted violence against “persons of the Jewish faith, and doing harm to a gun store owner in Oklahoma,” it said.
About a month later, the two met an FBI undercover agent and placed an order for an automatic weapon, explosives and a pistol with a silencer. On Sunday, they tried to complete the sale and were arrested, the affidavit said.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
