Ohio "incel" charged with hate crime over alleged plot to shoot women
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Chandan KhannaH/AFP via Getty Images
An Ohio man involved in a misogynistic online community known as "incels" was arrested Wednesday and charged with an attempted hate crime over a plot to conduct a mass shooting of women.
Driving the news: Tres Genco, 21, of Hillsboro, "allegedly plotted to commit a hate crime, namely, a plan to shoot students in sororities at a university in Ohio," per a Department of Justice statement. He's also charged with illegally possessing a machine gun.
- The DOJ said Genco actively participated in a website for "incels," short for "involuntary celibates," from at least July 2019 through mid-March 2020, and that he self-identifies as an incel.
Context: Incels seek to commit violence in support of their belief that women unjustly deny them sexual or romantic attention to which they believe they are entitled.
Of note: In an online post, Genco allegedly detailed spraying "some foids and couples" with orange juice in a water gun" — using incel shorthand for "femoids," their term for women.
- The DOJ alleges that Genco compared this action to similar conduct by incel Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and 14 others outside a sorority house, in Isla Vista, California, in 2014.
- "Prior to his mass attack, Rodger shot a group of college students with orange juice from a water gun," the Justice Department noted.
Zoom in: Genco allegedly wrote a manifesto in which he vowed to "slaughter" women "out of hatred, jealousy and revenge" and also wrote of aiming for "a kill count of 3,000 people," according to the statement.
- Prosecutors allege that in 2019 Genco "purchased tactical gloves, a bulletproof vest, a hoodie bearing the word 'revenge,' cargo pants, a bowie knife, a skull facemask, two Glock 17 magazines, a 9mm Glock 17 clip and a holster clip concealed carry for a Glock."
- A police search of his home in March last year found hidden in his home a Glock-style 9mm semiautomatic pistol, with no manufacturer's marks or serial number, among other items, according to prosecutors.
- Genco attended Army basic training at Fort Benning in Georgia from August 2019 through December 2019, per the DOJ.
For the record: Genco is also charged with illegally possessing a machine gun.
- He was listed as booked in the Butler County Jail.
