US authorities have revealed that they arrested a 22-year-old man after they discovered his plans to conduct a mass shooting at political party’s local headquarters and a nearby bar because he associated both locations with gay people.
Mack Davis pleaded guilty to one count of committing a hate crime by attempting to carry out the mass killings in Owosso, near Flint, Michigan.
“This defendant amassed an arsenal of firearms, rounds of ammunition and bombmaking parts that he intended to use to carry out the mass killing of gay people. This kind of vile and heinous hate-fueled violence, intended to target innocent people based on their sexual orientation, runs contrary to our values as Americans,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Bias-motivated crimes targeting the LGBTQI+ community will not be tolerated. The Justice Department will continue using every tool at our disposal to protect communities from the scourge of hate-fueled violence by prosecuting those who carry out or attempt to carry out such crimes.”
U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison for the Eastern District of Michigan applauded the work of law enforcement officers in apprehending Davis before the crime could be committed.
According to court documents, from at least July 2023 through June 2024, Davis accessed search engines and social media sites to research, post about, and pay tribute to mass killers, and wrote about dozens of mass killers in journals and on other items in his home.
During that period, Davis also began to plot his own mass killing, by, among other things, drafting lists of weapons and tactical gear he owned and intended to acquire for use in his mass killing.
By June, Davis had crossed off every item on the list of weapons and tactical gear he intended to acquire, and had amassed an arsenal that included two firearms, magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a crossbow and arrows, assorted bomb-making parts, smoke grenades, tactical gear and clothing and several knives. One of his knives had a gay slur carved into it.
Police became aware of Davis after he vandalised cars belonging to neighbours who he knew to be gay, and he fired 60 bullets into the neighbours properties while testing one of the firearms he had acquired.
Davis has yet to be sentenced, but faces a maximum of life in prison.
