A Border Patrol agent patrols along the wall separating the United States and Mexico on May 12, 2021, in Yuma, Arizona. (Ringo Chiu via AP). On Feb. 5, 2014, the FBI arrested Paul Faye Sr. (not pictured) after he allegedly planned to go to the border to kill Border Patrol agents.
The FBI arrested a Tennessee man after he made plans to go to the U.S. border with Mexico and kill Border Patrol agents, a criminal complaint says.
Paul Faye Sr. is charged with possessing, selling or transferring a firearm with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives National Firearm Registration and Transfer Record. Faye came onto the FBI’s radar after the May 2023 arrest of Bryan C. Perry, 37, of Clarksville, Tennessee, who also is accused of planning to kill border agents. A review of Perry’s cellphone showed extensive contact between him and Faye, according to the complaint.
Faye expressed his desire to go to the border to commit violence, the complaint said. In March, undercover FBI employees contacted Faye via TikTok and struck up a relationship with him.
“Faye discussed his belief that the government was training to take on its citizens, and more specifically, that the federal government was allowing illegal immigrants to enter the United States to help the government,” FBI agents wrote.
The undercover employees noticed a picture on Faye’s phone which showed what appeared to be a suppressor or silencer on the end of a rifle. Agents discovered Faye did not register it with the firearm registration which was required.
During a May phone call with the undercover agents, Faye allegedly said, “the patriots are going to rise up because we are being invaded. We are being invaded.”
He also discussed the need for one of the agents to buy body armor, reportedly saying, “if you can’t find them, I’m pretty sure there’s going to be some laying around after a while, ya follow me?”
The agents took that to mean they could take some from a dead border agent after killing them.
He assured the agents that he would properly train them before going to the border, provide them with weapons and explosives, and he would protect them as a sniper, the complaint said.
“I would be on top of that roof right there, zeroing out, taking out anybody. And then as y’all coming out, I’m going to be taking out,” he allegedly said.
Agents met with Faye at his home in Cunningham, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville. He allegedly had multiple AK-47 and AR-15 rifles, a shotgun, and other firearms. One of the rifles had a suppressor on it, which he sold to one of the agents for $100, according to the complaint. Investigators later determined that the suppressor was not properly registered.
The FBI arrested Faye on Monday. He was in custody and has a court hearing on Feb. 12 before a judge with the U.S. District Court Middle District of Tennessee.
