A Missouri man has been found guilty by a federal jury of conspiring to murder Border Patrol agents and shooting FBI agents

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KY3) – A Missouri man has been found guilty by a federal jury for his role in a conspiracy to kill U.S. Border Patrol agents and shoot FBI agents during arrest.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri, 34-year-old Jonathan O'Dell of Warsaw, Missouri, was convicted Nov. 7 along with a man from Tennessee.

According to investigators, the two men, both members of the 2nd American Militia, planned to travel to Texas to shoot illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. They also planned to assassinate U.S. Border Patrol agents and personnel who would try to stop them.

O'Dell and Bryan Perry of Tennessee were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to assault federal officers and employees and one count of conspiracy to injure federal officers and employees. They were found guilty of seven counts of attempted murder of FBI special agents, seven counts of assaulting FBI special agents with a deadly weapon, three counts of assaulting FBI special agents and 14 counts of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence found. and one count of damaging federal property.

The press release states that O'Dell was also found guilty on one count of threatening to injure another person. During the trial, he also pleaded guilty to one count of illegally possessing a firearm while subject to a court order of protection, one count of making a false statement to a federal agent and one count of escaping custody.

He escaped from the Phelps County Jail in September 2023 before being found and arrested in Ray County, Missouri, near Kansas City. Police say a witness who knows O'Dell reported him as the owner of a stolen vehicle out of Phelps County. This vehicle was also recovered at the time of the arrest. The arresting agencies were the FBI, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Ray County Sheriff's Office.

O'Dell and Perry founded the 2nd American Militia in 2022 and tried to recruit others to join. The two even promoted a recruiting event in Warsaw before heading to the border.

In October 2022, FBI agents arrested O'Dell and Perry at O'Dell's home; They used it to prepare for the journey and collected firearms, paramilitary equipment, ammunition and other supplies.

Perry posted a video on TikTok from O'Dell's home about illegal immigrants coming to the United States from Mexico.

According to investigators, Perry said the U.S. Border Patrol committed treason by allowing these illegal immigrants into the United States and that the punishment for treason was the death penalty. Perry posted another video on TikTok the next day, declaring he was “ready to go to war against this administration.”

On October 7, 2022, the FBI executed a search warrant for O'Dell's residence in the 34000 block of US 65 near Warsaw. Agents said when they arrived at the home they came under fire. Agents say they did not return fire. Shortly thereafter, they arrested O'Dell, Perry and another man at the house. According to investigators, Perry admitted to firing the shots.

According to authorities, agents responded with lightning strikes around the home. When police asked Perry to leave the house, Perry picked up an American flag from the house's porch and walked down the steps while waving the flag.

After he began walking toward the agents, Perry turned around and walked back into the house. Agents pursued Perry, who began fighting and swinging his fists, punching the agents multiple times and injuring at least one agent before being taken into custody.

Federal agents then searched the house and found six firearms, 23 magazines filled with ammunition, 1,770 rounds of various other ammunition, 11 spent cartridge cases, two sets of body armor with corresponding plate carrier vests, a handheld radio, two sniper supports, two gas masks, two ballistic helmets, several containers containing one binary explosive mixture commonly sold as an exploding target, cable ties and two 2nd American Militia patches.

Under federal law, O'Dell and Perry are each subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole and up to life in federal prison without parole.

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