"Incel" who plotted to 'slaughter' 3000 women pleads guilty to attempted hate crime
A 22-year-old man identified as Tres Genco has pleaded guilty to plotting a mass shooting to “slaughter” 3,000 women at an Ohio university. Mr Genco was taken into custody in July 2021.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker claims that Genco identifies as an incel, an abbreviation for "involuntary celibate." Men who feel women "unjustly deny them sexual or romantic attention" are members of the online incel community.
According to a news statement with the United States Department of Justice, Genco had profiles on many incel websites and published hundreds of posts between July 2019 and March 2020.
Genco wrote about using an orange juice water pistol to spray single women and couples. He used the incel slang term for women, "foids" (short for "femoids"), to describe females.
Genco was undergoing military training in Georgia when he contributed to the websites. After a year and a half of service, he was let go in December 2019 for subpar performance and behaviour.
Parker claims that a month following Genco's discharge, on January 15, 2020, he scouted out an Ohio institution in preparation for a mass massacre. The official statement did not specify which school was involved.
On the same day, according to Parker, Genco Googled phrases like "planning a shooting crime" and "when does preparing for a crime become an attempt?"
In March 2020, he and Genco's mother got into a fight, and he phoned the Highland County Sheriff's Office. Det. Vinny Antinore said that this is when the deputies first observed firearms and body armour "that just appeared out of place," leading to an inquiry.
Deputies discovered a handgun with a bump stock attached, a modified Glock-style 9mm semi-automatic pistol, many magazines, body armour, and ammo boxes. Genco stipulated in his plea agreement that he had both weapons because they were necessary to carry out his plan.
Genco's manifesto was also discovered by the police, in which he admitted to killing women "out of anger, envy, and retribution."
According to the investigation, he looked up sororities and an Ohio university online before writing his manifesto.
In addition, Genco claimed that he thought his "very empowering action" of killing women would be on par with that of Elliot Rodger, who in 2014 killed six people and injured fourteen more at a California sorority home. Rodger shot orange juice at a gathering of college students with a water gun before he committed his mass attack.
The authorities uncovered another note from Genco in which he expressed a desire to murder 3,000 women.
Isolated was a document penned by Genco in January 2020 and was labelled by the author as "the writings of the deluded and homicidal." Genco included "Your hopeful buddy and murderer" in his signature.
FBI Special Agent J. William Rivers of the Cincinnati office claimed that because of cooperative efforts by law enforcement, a murderous murdering spree against women was averted.
“Genco’s hate-filled beliefs and actions were extremely dangerous and could have resulted in irreparable harm to our community and many precious lives,” Rivers said. “We urge the public to report concerning behaviour to the FBI and local police to help prevent future violence.”
The charge of attempting to commit a hate crime, to which Genco pleaded guilty, is punishable by life in prison.
With the rise in hate crimes and hate incidents over the last year, federal and state officials are taking new steps when it comes to reporting bias incidents. In May, the Justice Department announced a series of new guidelines and $10 million in new federal grants to help states develop hotlines for reporting incidents.
Document Women earlier discussed how incels and their activities pose a threat for women on and offline.