The suspect has been arrested on suspicion of possessing parts to make a bomb.
The FBI have arrested a man who was planning a terror attack on either the patrons of a gay bar or a synagogue. Conor Climo, 23, was arrested earlier this week, and has connections to white supremacy groups.
Part of Climo’s plans involved hiring ‘squads’ to attack the locations, and he is alleged to have tried to hire a homeless person as part of this squad in 2017. The two places he planned to attack were a gay bar located on Fremont Street and a synagogue in Las Vegas.
Investigators at Climo’s house found hand-drawn schematics for the attacks. They also found flammable liquids, oxidising agents and circuits boards; they also confiscated an AR-15 assault rifle and a bolt gun.
The Daily Beast reports that as police searched Climo’s house, he is alleged to have told them he was a member of Neo-Nazi group, the Feuerkrieg Division (FKD). He is said to have communicated with them on encrypted platforms, but he left the group because of their inactivity.
A criminal complaint said that Climo told officers he “wanted to be a part of FKD because he wanted to do something ‘generally different’ related to his hatred of African-Americans, Jews, and homosexuals.”
In a statement, Nicholas A. Trutanich, the attorney for the District of Nevada, said: “Threats of violence motivated by hate and intended to intimidate or coerce our faith-based and LGBTQ communities have no place in this country.”
In a statement, the US Attorney Office said: “Climo would regularly use derogatory racial, anti-Semitic and homosexual slurs. He discussed attacking a Las Vegas synagogue and making Molotov Cocktails and improvised explosive devices, and he also discussed conducting surveillance on a bar he believed catered to the LGBTQ community.”
Climo remains in police custody and his next scheduled court appearance is on 23 August. If Climo is convicted, he could face up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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