A 24-year-old Tennessee man has been arrested and charged with allegedly conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in a neo-Nazi-inspired plot to destroy an energy facility near Nashville, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Skyler Philippi allegedly planned to attack Nashville’s power grid with a drone armed with explosives after conducting extensive research into how such an attack could serve to “shock the system,” as he allegedly conveyed to a confidential FBI source. learned of their plot, prosecutors said. saying.

The FBI began investigating Philippi in June after a confidential source who was in contact with him informed the FBI of his alleged desire to commit a mass shooting at a YMCA near Columbia, Tennessee, according to the complaint.

Philippi allegedly repeatedly defended his adherence to white supremacist and accelerationist ideologies that promote the idea that a destabilizing terrorist attack against something like the nation’s energy sectors could serve to incite unrest leading to civil war, according to prosecutors.

“I definitely want to get to Nashville, 100 percent, I want to get to Nashville,” Philippi allegedly said in a meeting recorded by the undercover agents, according to the complaint. “I also know Louisville pretty well, having lived there. I spent about five months exploring each place (power plant) and even coming up with a game plan to get there as quickly as I could. I had full maps made, printed on paper, to actually do that”.

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In September, Philippi and undercover FBI employees drove to an electrical substation he had previously investigated, and while in transit, Philippi allegedly ordered informants what he believed to be the equivalent of C-4 explosives, according to the complaint.

During the reconnaissance mission, undercover agents recorded Philippi saying, “Holy shit. This is going to go off like a fucking Fourth of July firework,” according to the complaint.

On Saturday, Philippi allegedly met with undercover agents to test fly the drone and carry out the attack, according to the complaint. The complaint includes a photograph that prosecutors say shows Philippi performing the test flight of the drone.

The agents supplied Philippi with homemade bombs allegedly ordered by the defendant that contained an inert substance so that they would not detonate, according to the complaint. Another photo included in the complaint shows a masked person whom prosecutors say is Philippi, along with two undercover FBI agents, displaying pipe bombs and an explosive device.

Before going to the operation site, Philippi participated in a “Norse ritual”, during which he allegedly said “This is where the New Age begins” and that it was “time to do something big” that would be remembered “in the annals of the story,” according to the complaint.

Once at the scene, as the undercover agents moved to their assigned positions as lookouts, Philippi allegedly ignited the drone with an explosive device that he believed had an active C-4 attached, according to the complaint. He was then detained, prosecutors said.

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“According to the charges, Skyler Philippi believed he was about to launch an attack on a Nashville energy facility to promote his violent white supremacist ideology, but the FBI had already compromised his plot,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “This case serves as yet another warning to those who seek to sow violence and chaos in the name of hate by attacking our country’s critical infrastructure: the Department of Justice will find them, we will thwart their plot, and we will hold them accountable.”

Philippi is charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted destruction of an energy facility. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison, the Justice Department said.

He had an initial court appearance Monday and has been temporarily detained, court records show. The preliminary and detention hearing was extended until November 13.

ABC News has contacted Philippi’s attorney for comment.

Man arrested in alleged neo-Nazi-inspired plot to destroy Nashville energy facility: Justice Department originally appeared on abcnews.go.com