Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
Ohio ‘Incel’ Pleads Guilty To Plotting A Mass Shooting Of Women At An Ohio University
Tres Genco, 22, admitted to plotting the mass murder of thousands of people at an unnamed Ohio university in the Columbus area and described himself as a “socially exiled Incel,” according to court documents.
An Ohio man who “formulated a plot” to “slaughter” women in a mass shooting at a university, has pleaded guilty to a hate crime, federal prosecutors said.
Tres Genco, 22, pleaded guilty to conspiring to carry out a hate crime in connection with his mass shooting plot, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday. He was initially charged in July 2021, according to an indictment obtained by Oxygen.com.
The plea agreement — which hasn’t yet been made public — was filed on Sept. 29, according to court records. Genco now faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.
“The gender-based hate and bias-motivated threat of violence exhibited by this defendant simply has no place in our society,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said. “The Department of Justice will remain steadfast in our efforts to investigate and prosecute those who carry out, or attempt to carry out, gender-based hate crimes to the fullest extent of the law.”
Prosecutors say Genco, who described himself as a “socially exiled Incel" — short for “involuntary celibate" — had plotted to carry out the mass shooting of 3,000 people at an Ohio university out.
The term “Incel” comes from an online community comprised primarily of men, who harbor hatred towards women based on what they say is their inability to have heterosexual sex despite their desire to do so. Its adherents often openly post about carrying out sinister acts of violence against the opposite sex.
Genco posted hundreds of times and maintained a profile on a popular incel website from at least July 2019 through his arrested in mid-March 2020, prosecutor said. According to court documents, Genco also authored a manifesto in which he stated he planned to kill women.
RELATED: Missouri Woman Escapes Weeks-Long Rape, Torture After Alleged Captor Took Child To School
“I will slaughter out of hatred, jealousy, and revenge,” Genco wrote in 2019, according to a complaint obtained by Oxygen.com. “I will take away the power of life that they withhold from me, by showing there is more than just happiness and fulfillment, there is all encompassing death, the great equalizer that will bear all of us into its seductively calm velvet of silence and serenity.” (The "power of life" is a likely reference to reproduction.)
Prosecutors said Genco eventually purchased a rifle, two Glock 17 magazines, a 9mm Glock 17 clip, a holster clip, tactical gloves, a bullet proof vest, a hoodie emblazoned with the word “Revenge,” cargo pants, a Bowie knife and a skull face mask.
Genco also referenced a “kill count” using the abbreviation “KC” in a note he wrote sometime between July and August 2019.
“May 23, 2020 290 days!” Genco allegedly wrote, per court filings. “M-16 optimal, cover or mil-spec. Will get arms training in BCT, Georgia KC Needs to be huge! 3,000? Aim big then”.
Genco attended Army Basic Combat Training (BCT) in Georgia from August to December 2019. He was discharged for entry-level performance and conduct.
Genco conducted online searches for sororities and a university in Ohio, as well, prosecutors said. The Columbus area is home to about a dozen undergraduate institutions, the largest and most famous of which is arguably The Ohio State University.
In January 2020, Genco carried out surveillance of the unnamed college's campus and researched scanner codes for Columbus, Ohio police and university police, according to the case’s complaint. That same month, he wrote another document he titled “isolated,” which he described as “the writings of the deluded and homicidal" and signed as “Your hopeful friend and murderer.”
“If you’re reading this, I’ve done something horrible,” it began. “Somehow you’ve come across the writings of the deluded and homicidal.”
In other online posts, prosecutors said Genco also glorified and compared himself misogynist killer Elliot Rodger, who murdered six people and wounded 14 others at a University of California, Santa Barbara sorority house in May 2014.
“Genco formulated a plot to kill women and intended to carry it out,” U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker for the Southern District of Ohio said. “Hate has no place in our country — including gender-based hate — and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to vigorously prosecute any such conduct.”
Highland County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to Genco's home on March 12, 2020 and arrested him. At the scene, law enforcement seized a firearm with a bump stock attached, multiple loaded magazines, body armor and boxes of ammunition. A modified Glock-style 9mm semiautomatic pistol, which police said had no manufacturer’s markings or a serial number, was found stashed in a vent in Genco’s bedroom.
As part of his plea deal, Genco also admitted to the possession of two firearms, including a machine-gun and a modified Glock-style 9mm semiautomatic pistol.
Genco’s sentencing date hasn’t yet been scheduled.
