A black man opened fire on white passers-by yesterday in Bristol (Tennessee) before he was subsequently shot and taken into custody by responding police.

Authorities in Tennessee say a man who opened fire on a highway in Tennessee targeted police officers and others because he was troubled by incidents involving black people and law enforcement officers.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says in a news release that initial conversations with the suspect revealed he was troubled by incidents across the U.S.

The TBI says the suspect is black; the shooting victims are all white.

Investigators say L___ K___S___* killed one person and wounded three others, including a police officer.

S___ had two guns early Thursday morning when he shot at a motel in Bristol, Tennessee, and then shot indiscriminately at several passing cars.

When he was confronted by police, he fired at the three officers who responded.

The suspect was shot by the officers and is being treated at a hospital.

WJHL notes that the domestic terrorist was armed with a semi-automatic rifle and handgun and a large quantity of ammunition. Fortunately he was not very well trained, or the casualty count may have been much higher than one dead and three wounded.

Like the terrorist attack in Dallas, this attack clearly meets the federal definition of domestic terrorism.

18 U.S.C. § 2331 defines “international terrorism” and “domestic terrorism” for purposes of Chapter 113B of the Code, entitled “Terrorism”:

“International terrorism” means activities with the following three characteristics:

• Involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
• Appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
• Occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S., or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum.*

“Domestic terrorism” means activities with the following three characteristics:

• Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
• Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and
• Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.

18 U.S.C. § 2332b defines the term “federal crime of terrorism” as an offense that:

• Is calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct; and
• Is a violation of one of several listed statutes, including § 930(c) (relating to killing or attempted killing during an attack on a federal facility with a dangerous weapon); and § 1114 (relating to killing or attempted killing of officers and employees of the U.S.).

* FISA defines “international terrorism” in a nearly identical way, replacing “primarily” outside the U.S. with “totally” outside the U.S. 50 U.S.C. § 1801(c).

These attacks on members of a specific race with the goal of intimidating a civilian population, and clearly hoping to influence law enforcement by intimidation, clearly meet the definition of terrorism, and those involved in these attacks and any similarfollow-on attacks should be charged with domestic terrorism and treated as terrorists under federal law.

*Bearing Arms does not publish the names of mass or spree killers.