White supremacist pleads guilty to plotting ‘hateful’ attacks on gay bar and synagogue
Conor Climo, 23, seen here in 2016 patrolling his neighbourhood while armed. (KTVN)
A man who describes himself as a white supremacist has pleaded guilty to plotting to bomb a gay bar and a synagogue near his home in Las Vegas.
24-year-old Conor Climo was planning to firebomb a synagogue and shoot customers at a gay bar, and had also planned to carry out an attack on the offices of the Anti-Defamation League, Buzzfeed reports.
He had made sketches and initial plans to carry out the attacks before his arrest in August.
Conor Climo pleaded had planned an attack on a gay bar before his arrest in August.
On February 10, Conor Climo pleaded guilty to one count of owning an unregistered firearm. If the plea is accepted, he will be forced to undergo mental health treatment, his computer-use will be monitored and he will be prevented from owning weapons upon his release.
The defendant’s threat of violence – which were motivated by hate and intended to intimidate or coerce our faith-based and LGBTQ communities – have no place in this country.
He could be jailed for up to 10 years but prosecutors are now recommending a shorter sentence.
“The defendant’s threat of violence – which were motivated by hate and intended to intimidate or coerce our faith-based and LGBTQ communities – have no place in this country,” said US attorney Nicholas Trutanich.
Climo made the news in 2016 for patrolling his neighbourhood wearing body armour and carrying an assault rifle. Nevada has open-carry gun laws, which meant that as long as he stayed away from restricted zones like schools his actions were legal, police said at the time.
The self-proclaimed ‘white supremacist’ would ‘regularly use derogatory racial, anti-semitic and homosexual slurs’.
He was arrested in August 2019 following a probe that involved at least one undercover online contact and an FBI confidential informant who reported that Climo “discussed, in detail, how to build a ‘self-contained Molotov’ incendiary device.”
“Climo would regularly use derogatory racial, anti-Semitic and homosexual slurs,” the US attorney’s office said at the time.
“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.”
