Michigan man admits to planning mass shooting of gay people

A Michigan man has admitted to planning a mass shooting at a local political party’s headquarters and a nearby bar because he associated both locations with gay people, officials said Tuesday. 

Mack Davis, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of committing a hate crime by attempting to carry out the mass killings in Owosso, about 25 miles west of Flint. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. 

“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 in a statement included in the release. “Bias-motivated crimes targeting the LGBTQI+ community will not be tolerated.  The Justice Department will continue using every tool at our disposal to protect communities from the scourge of hate-fueled violence by prosecuting those who carry out or attempt to carry out such crimes.”

Officials said Davis researched and wrote about dozens of mass killers in journals, on other items in his home and on social media between July of last year and June, when he was arrested on an unrelated charge. In those 11 months, Davis drafted a list of weapons he owned and weapons he intended to acquire to carry out his own mass killing, officials said. By June, he 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 several knives, officials said. One of his knives was inscribed with an anti-gay slur, “F—– Killer,” officials said. 

Between April and June, Davis posted on social media about opening fire on a local political party’s headquarters, which he said, using an anti-gay slur, was “filled with far-left liberal, f—– scum,” and a nearby bar that Davis had referred to as a “f—– bar,” according to the DOJ release. Officials did not specify which political party the headquarters belonged to or whether the nearby bar is a gay bar. 

In June, Davis also spray-painted the word “fag” on the car of one of his neighbors, whom officials said Davis knew to be gay, and vandalized another car. Days later, Davis test-fired one of his firearms by shooting approximately 60 bullets at several of his neighbors’ properties, including one of the cars he had previously vandalized, officials said. 

Police arrested him after the shooting incident and he has remained in custody since June. He will be sentenced for planning the foiled attack at a later, unspecified date, according to the release.

“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,” Dawn N. Ison, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said in a statement. “I applaud the work of law enforcement in disrupting this awful plot and arresting Davis before he could carry out his planned attacks.”

Davis’ attorney, Bryan Sherer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

At least two high-profile mass shootings have taken place at gay bars in the past decade. 

In 2016, a man opened fire on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Pulse Nightclub, killing 49 people and injuring dozens more. Police shot and killed the 29-year-old male shooter at the site of the attack that same day.

In 2020, a nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Club Q, was similarly attacked, leaving five people dead and injuring 17 others. The 24-year-old shooter pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to life in prison. A pair of lawsuits filed last month alleged that the Colorado shooting could have been prevented had authorities enforced Colorado’s red flag law.