This police booking photo released Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017 by the Horry County Police Department in Conway, S.C., shows Benjamin McDowell. McDowell is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to a sworn FBI statement, agents began investigating McDowell after he threatened a synagogue on Facebook and told an undercover agent he wanted to commit an attack in the "spirit of Dylann Roof." (Horry County Sheriff's Office via AP) (The Associated Press)
A white supremacist who authorities say illegally bought a gun he planned to use in an attack similar to the South Carolina church shootings is scheduled to appear in court.
A preliminary hearing for 29-year-old Benjamin McDowell is set for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in federal court in Florence.
The FBI says McDowell told an undercover agent he wanted to buy a gun for an attack in "the spirit of Dylann Roof."
Roof was sentenced to death last month for a racist shooting that killed nine black worshippers at a Charleston church.
McDowell couldn't legally own a gun because of a felony burglary conviction. Authorities say he didn't give a specific target for an attack.
FBI agents say they arrested McDowell last week after he bought the gun for $109 from the undercover agent.
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