Columbia man gets 9 years in federal prison for hate crime neighborhood shooting

A 34-year-old Columbia white man who shot at a Black man and later told police he wanted to kill Black people was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison under federal hate crime statutes.

Jonathan Andrew Felkel, who has been diagnosed with mental health issues, was sentenced by U.S. Judge Mary Geiger Lewis after a 30-minute hearing at the federal courthouse near downtown Columbia.

Felkel, who lived in the well-to-do largely white community of Spring Valley, told police after he was arrested that on the morning of July 17, 2025, he left his Spring Valley home and “went looking for people of color.”

When he came upon Jarvis McKenzie, who was standing at the Spring Valley gate waiting for a ride to work, Felkel fired his rifle and shouted, “ ‘You better run, boy!’... all merely because of the color of’’ McKenzie’s skin, court documents show. McKenzie is an employee of the city of Columbia.

Felkel “has since admitted that he originally intended to fatally shoot at ... McKenzie and kill him but instead chose to fire a warning shot,” according to a prosecution memo in the case.

McKenzie was “terrified” and fled across the street, where he called his fiancée and checked himself for gunshot wounds, according to the prosecution memo.

Felkel was arrested later that same day. He was easily identified because he had fired his rifle from inside his car, and a Spring Valley security camera captured its image and license plate.

Since his arrest last year, Felkel has been an inmate in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center unable to make the $1 million bond.

The federal hate crime under which Felkel was convicted pertains to the intimidation of people to keep them away from housing opportunities based on their race.

Like Felkel, McKenzie lived in Spring Valley.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.