Update: White Supremacist Pleads Guilty In Nashville Synagogue Incident

Michael Edward Smith pleaded guilty in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 19, 2003, to four weapons-related offenses related to a January 2002 incident in which Smith was observed in his car pointing a gun at a local synagogue.

Smith was arrested following a high-speed car chase. Subsequent searches of Smith's property and other locations revealed large caches of weapons, explosives, an anti-tank rocket, and ammunition, as well as white supremacist literature. The seizures were the largest weapons and explosives seizures ever for the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department.

Another person arrested in the investigation, Jack Ray Spores from Del City, Oklahoma, earlier pled guilty in April 2002. Spores had been charged with possessing two pipe bombs.

Smith faces a possible 47-56 months in prison when sentenced.

A Nashville man who allegedly pointed an assault rifle at a synagogue and then led authorities to a large underground cache of weapons and explosives had connections to white supremacy groups, federal and state law enforcement officials said.

In statements to police, the suspect, Michael Edward Smith, admitted that he had connections to the National Alliance and the Ku Klux Klan. Smith was arrested on January 4 in Nashville after leading authorities on a brief chase down Interstate 65. His arrest led to the discovery of a massive cache of weapons and explosives, many of them hidden below ground.

"The sight of a man pointing an assault rifle at a synagogue is chilling," said Deborah Lauter, Southeast Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League. "We are thankful to the person who reported the incident and to law enforcement for their swift actions in apprehending the suspect."

Smith, 33, has been charged with federal counts of possession or manufacture of unregistered destructive devices and possession of firearms in a school zone. He also faces various state charges, including unlawful weapon possession, felony reckless endangerment and evading arrest.

Police said a witness first spotted Smith sitting inside his car with an assault rifle pointed at Sherith Israel Congregation in Nashville. The witness informed the police, who later confronted Smith outside of his apartment.

After refusing to surrender, Smith led officers on a chase while holding a gun pointed at his own head, police said. The chase ended in a parking lot outside a pharmacy, where police allegedly discovered an AR-15 assault rifle, a handgun, ammunition and surgical gloves in Smith’s car.

Later, Smith led police to a large cache of buried weapons, including a shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket, eight cans filled with armor-piercing ammunition, hand grenades, smoke bombs, dynamite fuses and flares. Police said a search of the suspect’s house revealed additional weapons, including 11 live hand grenades, eight firearms, explosive components and bomb-making material.

White supremacist literature was found at the home, and Smith allegedly told police he had received training from the National Alliance and KKK on how to make and use explosives.

ADL, which monitors activities of extremist groups and individuals and provides information to law enforcement and the public, has long identified the National Alliance as one of the largest and most active neo-Nazi organizations in the United States. The stated aim of the group is, "to build a better world and a better race and to create a new government … answerable to White people only."

At a joint news conference that included officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and state and local police, officials indicated that a potentially dangerous situation had been defused.

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