CINCINNATI, Ohio. — A 21-year-old man from Hillsboro faces hate crime charges after federal prosecutors said he armed himself with a machine gun and planned to kill women in a mass shooting.
According to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Tres Genco identified as an “incel,” short for involuntarily celibate.
“The Incel movement is an online community of predominantly men who harbor anger towards women,” U.S. Attorney Vipal Patel stated in a news release. “Incels advocate violence in support of their belief that women unjustly deny them sexual or romantic attention to which they believe they are entitled.”
In March 2020, the Highland County Sheriff’s Department was called to Genco’s home, according to court documents. A person, who was unidentified in the records, had reported Genco had barricaded himself in his room with a firearm and the person was worried he might hurt himself or planned to hurt others.
Prosecutors say Genco lived in Hillsboro, Ohio, a town of about 6,500 people that sits about an hour’s drive east of Cincinnati.
After getting Genco to surrender, investigators said they found an AR-15-style rifle with a bump-stock and Glock pistol modified to fire fully automatically with no serial number. They said they also found many writings dating back to at least 2019.
In those writings, he named a date for his proposed mass shooting: May 23, 2020, court documents state, just over two months after he was arrested. FBI investigators indicated that Ohio State University was a possible target in court documents.
That year, Genco purchased tactical gloves, a bulletproof vest, a hoodie bearing the word “Revenge,” cargo pants, a bowie knife, a skull facemask and several magazines, prosecutors said.
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He also penned a document in that August that he titled “A Hideous Symphony,” which he called a manifesto, according to court documents.
“I am already set to go into the U.S. Army,” he allegedly wrote. “This training will be for the attainment of one reality, the death of what I have been deprived of most, but also cherish and fantasize at the opportunity of having but has been neglected of; Women.
“I will slaughter out of hatred, jealousy, and revenge… 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 month, Genco began Army basic training in Georgia, prosecutors said. Shortly after he was discharged for “entry-level performance and conduct,” officials reported.
FBI agents said his writings showed he hoped to kill 3,000 people. Agents said he conducted surveillance of a university and did online research on sororities.
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“Genco conducted internet searches for topics including ‘planning a shooting crime’ and ‘when does preparing for a crime become an attempt?’ ” court documents state.
Agents also said Genco had compared himself to Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and injured 14 in 2014 near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Two of the victims were women outside a sorority house. Rodger outlined his desire to punish women in YouTube videos.
Since then, several social media outlets like Facebook and Reddit have cracked down on Incel communities. Reddit banned several of them outright.
A USA TODAY report on the phenomenon said one of these communities had 40,000 members.
Genco is charged with attempting a hate crime and unlawful possession of a machinegun. Prosecutors say the hate crime charge is punishable by up to life imprisonment and the machinegun charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
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