Police arrested a man from Tennessee on Monday after he allegedly told an undercover agent that he planned to kill illegal migrants with a sniper rifle at the southern border, according to a criminal complaint.
Representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Tennessee charged Paul Faye with possession of an unregistered firearm following a nearly year-long investigation into his alleged activities concerning illegal immigrants and the U.S.-Mexico border, the criminal complaint alleged, Court Watch first reported.
FBI arrests man who planned to fire sniper rounds and set off explosives at the border https://t.co/RaiiV6X9hk pic.twitter.com/fvIQoQtEPE
— 🌊 R Saddler (@Politics_PR) February 6, 2024
Two undercover agents with the FBI met with Fay and his son after one agent contacted Faye on TikTok in March 2023, according to the criminal complaint. Faye told the agents, “The patriots are going to rise up because we are being invaded. We are being invaded,” the criminal complaint alleges.
Faye also told the undercover agents he was “coordinating with militia groups from Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee,” according to the criminal complaint. Faye said he was the border militia’s sniper and told the agents his property was protected from law enforcement with clay mines and “boobytrap explosive devices,” the criminal complaint alleges.
Faye “discussed plans for traveling to the border” and planned to “transport explosive devices to the border without law enforcement detection,” according to the criminal complaint. Faye also spoke with a leader from the NC Patriot Party to plan to travel with the group, the court documents alleged. (RELATED: House Homeland Security Committee Approves Two Articles Of Impeachment Against Alejandro Mayorkas)
“I’ll be the first one on the scene, and the first one to leave,” Faye allegedly told the undercover agents, according to the criminal complaint. “The reason why I say that is, if something, just say that we were going down like that, before you even put yourself in danger, I would be on top that roof right there, zeroing out, taking out anybody.”
Faye caught law enforcement’s attention following the arrest of Bryan Perry, who was indicted last spring on conspiracy charges regarding an alleged shootout with Border Patrol officers whom he allegedly planned to murder, according to the criminal complaint. Faye and Perry electronically communicated about traveling to the southern border to commit violence, the criminal complaint alleged.
Faye took the undercover agents into his “war room” Jan. 11, which contained guns, radios, tactical vests and at least one firearm silencer, which an undercover agent purchased, according to the criminal complaint.