Michigan man admits planning mass shooting of gay people
A Michigan man has admitted to planning a mass shooting at a local political party’s headquarters and a nearby bar because he associated both locations with gay people, officials said Tuesday.
A Michigan man has admitted to planning a mass shooting at a local political party’s headquarters and a nearby bar because he associated both locations with gay people, officials said Tuesday.
Mack Davis, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of committing a hate crime by attempting to carry out the mass killings in Owosso, about 25 miles west of Flint. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
“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,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement included in the release. “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.”
Officials said Davis researched and wrote about dozens of mass killers in journals, on other items in his home and on social media between July of last year and June, when he was arrested on an unrelated charge. In those 11 months, Davis drafted a list of weapons he owned and weapons he intended to acquire to carry out his own mass killing, officials said. By June, he 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 several knives, officials said. One of his knives was inscribed with an anti-gay slur, “F----- Killer,” officials said.
Between April and June, Davis posted on social media about opening fire on a local political party’s headquarters, which he said, using an anti-gay slur, was “filled with far-left liberal, f----- scum,” and a nearby bar that Davis had referred to as a “f----- bar,” according to the DOJ release. Officials did not specify which political party the headquarters belonged to or whether the nearby bar is a gay bar.
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