A Michigan man faces life in prison after pleading guilty to a plot to shoot up a local Democratic Party headquarters and a bar.
According to court documents, Mack Davis, 22, of Owosso, Mich., which is 92 miles northwest of Detroit, posted on a social media site that he intended to commit a mass killing at the Shiawassee Democratic Party headquarters, which Davis referred to as “Location 1,” that Davis wrote was “filled with far-left liberal, faggot scum.”
Davis wrote that he would continue the mass killing at “Location 2,” a nearby bar that Davis wrote was “a faggot bar.”
Local media in Michigan have identified the bar as an Irish pub with the name Rainbow Bar.
The media reports from Michigan don’t identify the bar as being a “gay bar,” just a bar with an open-door policy in which all walks of life are welcome.
In any case, Davis decided that it is a gay bar, and that the Democratic Party HQ is full of “scum” – wonder where he might have heard that particular description of Democrats from? – and set the two locations as targets.
According to the court documents, Davis researched both locations online, conducted physical surveillance of both locations and posted about his research and surveillance on the social media site.
During that period, Davis also vandalized two cars that belonged to his neighbors, whom he knew to be gay, by spray-painting the word “fag” on one of the cars.
Days later, Davis also test-fired one of his firearms, an illegal short-barreled rifle, by firing approximately 60 bullets into several of his neighbors’ properties, including one of the cars that he had previously vandalized.
The Owosso Police Department arrested Davis for that shooting.
Davis was later transferred to federal custody, where he has remained since.
“This defendant amassed an arsenal of firearms, rounds of ammunition and bombmaking parts that he intended to use to carry out the mass killing of gay people. This kind of vile and heinous hate-fueled violence, intended to target innocent people based on their sexual orientation, runs contrary to our values as Americans,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said.
From the investigation, it was learned that beginning in the summer of 2023, Davis accessed search engines and social media sites to research, post about, and pay tribute to mass killers, and wrote about dozens of mass killers in journals and on other items in his home.
During that period, Davis also began to plot his own mass killing, by, among other things, drafting lists of weapons and tactical gear he owned and intended to acquire for use in his mass killing.
By June, Davis had crossed off every item on the list of weapons and tactical gear he intended to acquire, and had amassed an arsenal that included two firearms, magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a crossbow and arrows, assorted bomb-making parts, smoke grenades, tactical gear and clothing and several knives.
Davis inscribed one of the knives with the anti-gay slur, “FAGGOT Killer.”
“Davis’ plans were chilling. He intended to commit mass shootings at two locations — destroying countless lives and devastating our community — all because of his fanatical hatred for gay people,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Dawn N. Ison. “I applaud the work of law enforcement in disrupting this awful plot and arresting Davis before he could carry out his planned attacks. Today’s guilty plea is a reflection of my office’s commitment to prosecuting bias crimes and is a critical step in holding this defendant accountable for his actions.”
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Chris Graham
