A man, who identified as an “incel,” was arrested Wednesday for allegedly plotting to carry out a mass shooting in which he intended on targeting students from a sorority in a university in Ohio, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release.
Tres Genco, 21, has been charged with attempting to commit a hate crime, and illegally possessing a machine gun. The hate crime charge alone carries a potential life in prison sentence since it involved an attempt to kill.
Since at least July 2019, Genco allegedly maintained a profile on a site serving as a community for incels, or “involuntary celibates,” who choose to violently take out their frustrations on women since they believe they’re being denied sex and/or intimacy that they deserve. Genco mentioned that he had previously sprayed women and couples with a water gun filled with orange juice, mirroring an act performed by another incel named Eliot Rodger.
In 2014, Rodger died at the age of 22 when he killed himself after murdering six people and injuring 14 others. Rodger’s killing spree started when he stabbed his roommates to death. He attempted to enter a sorority house near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara, but when he struggled to get inside, he shot and killed two women, and wounded another. A police chase ensued, but when they were finally able to gain access to his vehicle, he was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Before leaving the apartment, Rodger uploaded a video on YouTube where he said he planned on specifically killing women for turning him down. Genco had already written a manifesto where he declared his desire to “slaughter” women “out of hatred, jealousy and revenge,” believing that death would be the “great equalizer.” The same day he wrote the manifesto, Genco searched online for sororities in Ohio.
A note written by Genco indicated that he intended to “aim big” by killing as many as 3,000 people. He spent five months attending Army Basic Training in Georgia in late 2019.
In January 2020, Genco allegedly observed an unidentified university in Ohio, and returned home to look up inquiries that included prompts, such as, “How to plan a shooting crime” and “When does preparing for a crime become attempt?” Local police searched his vehicle and residence two months later, and found a slew of firearms, some of which lacked a serial number, boxes of ammunition, and body armor.
