SC man waives right to hearing on federal gun charge in 'Dylann Roof' attack case
FLORENCE, S.C. _ In a hearing that took little more than a minute, Benjamin Thomas Samuel McDowell _ accused of purchasing a gun from an undercover agent for an attack "in the spirit of Dylann Roof" _ waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
He delayed the matter of his bond.
"He looked real good. He looked real strong," said McDowell's mother, Joanne Clewis, as she exited a small federal courtroom in Florence where her son had his first appearance before a federal judge on a federal weapons violation.
Moments earlier, McDowell had entered the small courtroom where his family filled a front-row pew on Tuesday afternoon. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, his wrists shackled to a chain around his waist, McDowell scanned the crowd, settling on the supportive gaze of his family.
Clewis said this was the first time seeing her son after he was arrested by federal agents Wednesday in the parking lot of a Hampton Inn at Broadway at the Beach.
Officers say the 29-year-old Conway man was carrying a red duffel bag, containing the .40-caliber Glock and hollow point ammunition he had just purchased from an undercover agent, when he was arrested.
McDowell was charged as a felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition after the purchase, according to a federal complaint.
Documents filed in the case say McDowell became affiliated with white supremacists while he was serving prison sentences in South Carolina and has tattoos indicating his ties.
He also has a history of making racial comments on Facebook, according to an affidavit filed in the case.
According to the affidavit, McDowell met with an undercover FBI agent, who he "believed handled problems for the Aryan Nations" on Jan. 12. At a hotel in Myrtle Beach, McDowell voiced "frustration with other white supremacists, stating that screaming 'white power' was not getting the job done," according to court records.
The affidavit says McDowell "indicated he sought a way to conduct an attack on non-whites without getting caught," but admitted "he had not decided on a place or time to conduct an attack."
_The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)
