A white Columbia area man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a case where a Black man out jogging near Spring Valley was fired upon, according to a Justice Department news release.

The federal grand jury, based in Columbia, has returned an indictment charging Jonathan Andrew Felkel, 34, with violating the housing rights of his Black neighbor, J.M., and for using a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence.

“According to court documents, on July 17, Felkel, while driving into the gated community where both he and J.M. lived, fired a gun and shouted at J.M., ‘You better keep running, boy!’ while J.M. was standing at the gate to the community,” the press release said.

“Boy” is a derogatory racial term long used by Southern white supremacists toward Black people.

If convicted, Felkel faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the housing charge, and an additional 10 years in prison on the firearms charge.

The case against Felkel was first made by Richland County sheriff’s deputies in July and given considerable publicity. Sheriff Leon Lott said his department charged Felkel with violating a county ordinance against hate crimes and state laws of possession of a weapon during a violent crime and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

It was the first hate crimes arrest under Richland County’s new hate crimes ordinance, enacted in early June.

“An individual had a gun and shot at someone solely based on the race of the victim,” said Lott at a July press conference announcing Felkel’s arrest. Lott played for reporters a video showing a shot being fired from a four-door dark-colored BMW in the direction of a Black jogger near an entrance to the Spring Valley subdivision in northeast Richland County.

In the video, a blue puff of smoke appeared from the driver’s side of the car after the shot. The jogger, who was not identified other than being an adult male, was not hit. But he was “scared to death,” Lott said after the press conference.

Felkel remains in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, unable to post a $1 million bond.

The incident took place around dawn on July 17 outside the high-income Spring Valley subdivision north of downtown Columbia.

The penalty for being convicted of a hate crime under the county’s misdemeanor ordinance is a $500 fine and 30 days in jail.

Spring Valley is known for its large and expensive homes. “Spring Valley is the premier secure community in Northeast Columbia, SC. Our custom homes are spread out over 1,200 acres of rolling hills and mature landscaping, with many homes bordering the prestigious Spring Valley Country Club or one of eight lakes,” says a notice on a Spring Valley website.

Both Felkel and the victim lived inside Spring Valley, the sheriff said.

The FBI Columbia field office investigated the federal case, apparently using the same facts Lott’s department turned up.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elle Klein and Lamar Fyall of the District of South Carolina and Trial Attorney Sarah Armstrong and Special Legal Counsel Mark Blumberg of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the local U.S. Attorney’s office in Columbia announced a 10 a.m.Thursday press conference. No reason was given, but Lott will be there as well as Bryan Stirling, U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Moore.

South Carolina is one of the few states without a hate crime law.

©2025 The State. Visit at thestate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.