FBI Says Man Killed in Shootout Wanted to Bomb Hospital Over Coronavirus

A man suspected of plotting to blow up a Missouri hospital and was killed in a shootout with FBI agents was apparently frustrated with local government action to stop the spread of coronavirus, the FBI said Wednesday.

Timothy Wilson, 36, died Tuesday in Belton, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, after members of the FBI’s joint terrorism task force attempted to arrest him. The FBI says Wilson was the subject of a “months-long domestic terrorism investigation."

It’s not clear whether Wilson was wounded by FBI agents or if he died by suicide, NBC News reports. Officials say he was armed and after being shot was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. The incident will be investigated by the FBI's inspection division, standard procedure for shootings involving agents.

FBI officials describe Wilson as a potentially violent extremist known to express racial and religious hatred and antigovernment sentiment. They say that while under surveillance, Wilson wanted to commit an act of terrorism, specifically a bombing, and had considered several targets, including a school with a large population of black students, a synagogue and a mosque.