A South Carolina man who fired a rifle into the air and hurled a racial slur at a Black neighbor, believing without evidence that the man was a criminal, was sentenced this week to nine years in federal prison, according to the Justice Department.

The man, Jonathan Andrew Felkel, 34, of Columbia, S.C., had pleaded guilty to violating the housing rights of the neighbor, a racially motivated crime. Mr. Felkel admitted to law enforcement officers that he had targeted the victim, Jarvis McKenzie, who was previously identified by his lawyer, because he was Black, saying that he wanted to drive him from the Spring Valley neighborhood where they both lived, the Justice Department said in court documents.

U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis handed down the sentence in Federal District Court in Columbia on Thursday, following Mr. Felkel’s plea in March.

Mr. Felkel’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Federal prosecutors said the attack occurred on July 17, 2025, as Mr. McKenzie stood at the entrance to the neighborhood in the northeast part of Columbia, waiting for his usual ride to work with the city.

Mr. Felkel drove through the neighborhood, firing a Remington Model 7400 semiautomatic rifle into the air and shouting, “You better keep running, boy!” before directing a racial slur at the victim, the federal prosecutors said.

“He described the hate that he had in his heart for Black people, and the only reason why he was riding around that morning was looking for Black people to shoot,” Sheriff Leon Lott of Richland County told reporters after the sentencing.

Investigators said that Mr. Felkel later acknowledged that he assumed Mr. McKenzie was involved in criminal activity simply because he was Black, the prosecutor said. Mr. Felkel told the authorities that he fired the shot and shouted at the man because he believed he did not belong in the neighborhood.

Mr. Felkel also told investigators that white people should “get rid of” Black people, according to court records. Federal prosecutors said those statements, together with the shooting, showed that he had used threats of violence to intimidate the victim because of his race.

“Hate crimes not only harm individuals, but undermine the fabric of our communities,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute such cases to restore safety and confidence in our neighborhoods.”

The prosecution comes as the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has shifted much of its public emphasis under the Trump administration, focusing greater attention on investigations targeting diversity programs and transgender participation in sports instead of pursuing cases of race-based discrimination.

Mr. McKenzie’s lawyer, Tyler D. Bailey, said in an interview that the decision was “a step in the right direction” but that more should be done to address racially motivated crimes, adding “the state needs a hate-crime bill.”

Mr. McKenzie said after the guilty plea that he was thankful that the authorities had pursued the case. “When I left my house that morning, I was just going to work,” Mr. McKenzie said in a statement. “I never imagined someone would try to kill me for being Black in my own neighborhood.”

Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.