Jonathan Felkel, Racist Gun Display, Columbia SC, 2024

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COLUMBIA, SC – Jonathan Felkel, 34, copped a plea today for a chilling act of intimidation rooted in racial bias. He admitted to firing a gun into the air and screaming a hateful threat at his Black neighbor, identified only as J.M., in their gated Columbia community last July.

According to court documents, Felkel spotted J.M. at the community gate on July 17th, 2025. He then brandished a firearm, fired it as a warning, and bellowed, “You better run, boy!” Felkel later confessed to investigators he wanted to scare J.M. into leaving the neighborhood, explicitly stating he wanted to convey, “leave [the neighborhood], get from around here,” and that J.M. “[didn’t] need to be around this area.”

The motive? Felkel told cops he believed J.M.’s race automatically linked him to “dangerous criminals.” This isn’t just a neighborhood dispute; it’s a clear-cut federal civil rights violation.

Felkel now faces a decade behind bars, a $250,000 fine, and a period of supervised release after sentencing. Judge Mary Geiger Lewis accepted the plea and will set a sentencing date. The FBI Columbia Field Office and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department handled the investigation, with the feds at the Civil Rights Division taking the lead on prosecution.