A federal grand jury charged an Ohio man who identifies as an "incel," or “involuntary celibate,” on Wednesday, for allegedly plotting to shoot women attending colleges and sororities in the state, officials announced.
Tres Genco, 21, of Hillsboro, faces one count of attempting to commit a hate crime and one count of illegally possessing a machine gun, according to court documents. He was arrested by federal agents on Wednesday, the US Department of Justice said, and is being held at the Butler County jail.
According to the indictment, Genco identified as an incel and frequently posted on “a popular incel website” from at least July 2019 to mid-March 2020. The incel movement is an online misogynist community of men fueled by a hatred of women, who, the men believe, are preventing them from having the sex they are entitled to. Some incels have killed in the name of an “incel rebellion” or in homage to a shooter who murdered six people and injured 14 others in Isla Vista, California, near UC Santa Barbara in 2014.
According to the charging document, Genco aligned himself with the Isla Vista shooter. In one post, Genco discussed spraying women and couples with orange juice in a water gun, as the Isla Vista shooter did to a group of college students prior to his deadly attack, the indictment said.
Genco wrote that when he “finally did do it, it was [the Isla Vista shooter’s] birthday and I didn’t even know that,” according to the document. “Felt like I spiritually connected to the saint on that day,” he added, describing spraying people with orange juice as an “extremely empowering action.”
In August 2019, Genco wrote a manifesto, saying he would “slaughter” women “out of hatred, jealousy, and revenge” and “take away the power of life that they withhold from me,” according to the indictment. On the day he penned that document, he also searched online for sororities and an unnamed university in the state, officials said.
In a separate note between July and August 2019, Genco named a local university, which is not identified in the charging document, and indicated that he was aiming for a “huge” kill count, listing the number 3,000 followed by a question mark, the indictment stated.
Also that year, Genco allegedly purchased tactical gloves, a bulletproof vest, a hoodie emblazoned with the word “revenge,” a rifle, and a bowie knife. He also researched gun modifications, saved guides on how to construct M-16 rifles, and attended Army basic training in Georgia. He was discharged for entry-level performance and conduct, officials said.
In January 2020, he wrote another document that was titled “isolated,” signing the note “your hopeful friend and murderer,” according to the indictment. He also conducted surveillance at a university in Ohio and searched topics like “how to plan a shooting crime,” the document said.
In March 2020, Highland County sheriff’s deputies responded to Genco’s residence, where they found several firearms, loaded magazines, body armor, and boxes of ammunition.
If convicted of the hate crime charge, Genco faces life in prison because the allegation involves an attempt to kill, the DOJ said. The weapons charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Information regarding a defense attorney was not immediately available.