*Some details in this story may be disturbing for viewers.*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A Tennessee man has pleaded guilty to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and targeting Nashville’s energy infrastructure.
Skyler Philippi, a 24-year-old white supremacist, planned to attack an energy facility with a drone carrying explosives, aiming to “shock the system” disrupting power to thousands of homes and critical facilities like hospitals, said Assistant Director Donald Holstead of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division.
Philippi’s plans were thwarted by the FBI, and he now awaits sentencing, said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.
Philippi communicated his intentions to commit a mass shooting at the YCMA facility in the Columbia area and attack substations to confidential sources, according to court documents. He wanted to use a drone with explosives like Triacetone Triperoxide, a high-energy explosive material also know as TATP, or C-4 to maximize damage.
He made disturbing statements towards confidential sources during the plot such as “This will go up like a fu**in fourth of July firework” and saying he wrote a “manifesto.” Additionally, he told an undercover employee he wanted to attack the energy site because “high tax cities or industrial areas to let the kikes lose money.”
In September 2024, Philippi conducted a survey of a specific substation and ordered explosives from undercover employees. He was arrested on Nov. 2, 2024, with the drone powered up and explosives ready to be attached.
This was before he engaged in a Nordic ritual, telling the undercover employees, “this is where the new age begins” and that it was “time to do something big” that would be remembered “in the annals of history.”
Philippi faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is set for Jan. 8, 2026.
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