A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to attempting a hate crime after admitting that he planned a mass shooting of women at an Ohio university.
Tres Genco of Hillsboro, Ohio, who posted on an "incel" website frequently and had firearms at home, had written notes about his plans to "slaughter" women and took steps to prepare for it, authorities said.
"Genco formulated a plot to kill women and intended to carry it out," US Attorney Kenneth L. Parker said in a statement.
Police first responded to a domestic call at Genco's house involving him and his mother in March 2020.
While searching the house, officers found a rifle and a handgun as well as notes detailing his intent to kill as many as 3,000 people with an M16 rifle at an unnamed college, the training needed to carry it out, and secondary plans for an "ambush" in a busy area, according to court documents.
He aligned himself with a self-described incel who killed 6 people and wounded 14 others in Isla Vista, California, in 2014.
Genco was arrested by federal agents in July 2021 and has been in custody since.
According to the indictment, he identified as an incel from July 2019 onward and posted frequently on an incel website. In one post, he wrote that he sprayed orange juice on women and couples with a water gun "like [the Isla Vista shooter] did."
"I suggest it to all incels, extremely empowering action," he wrote. He also referred to women as "foids," short for "femoids," an incel term.
Incels, or "involuntary celibates," are an extremist misogynistic community of men fueled by resentment of women, with whom they believe they are entitled to sex. Online incel groups encourage men to act out their anger offline, in interpersonal relationships and toward mass groups of people, which has resulted in violent and deadly situations.
Investigators laid out several of Genco's actions that signaled his intentions and hatred toward women.
In one example, he wrote that he was going into training with the US Army so that he could "slaughter" women "out of hatred, jealousy, and revenge." He also stated his plans to kill 3,000 people in May 2020 and researched sororities online.
In January 2020, he conducted surveillance at an Ohio university.
His notes and weapons were discovered when Highland County sheriff's deputies responded to a domestic violence call at his house in March 2020. His mother told officers that they were having an argument, and he "raged out" and went to his room, where she heard him loading a gun and chambering a round as if he were going to fire.
She later told them that he had enlisted in the military at her request the previous fall but was quickly discharged. She also expressed concern about his behavior, including a recent 10-day trip he had taken to Greece; he would not tell her who he was with or what he did there. She said that he had hit her in the past, according to court documents.
Genco was initially charged with attempting a hate crime and unlawful possession of a machine gun. Because he pleaded guilty to the hate crime count, which involved an attempt to kill, he faces up to life in prison.
His lawyer, Richard Monahan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.