A former security guard was charged with compiling bomb components and guns to kill people at a Las Vegas synagogue, and of drawing up plans to attack a bar catering to LGBTQ customers and a McDonald’s.
Conor Climo, 23, pleaded not guilty to a federal firearm charge in federal court on Wednesday.
He was accused of possession of unregistered destructive devices found at his home after he was arrested on Aug. 8. Prosecutors and a U.S. magistrate judge said the suspect identifies himself as a white supremacist and shared with an FBI informant detailed plans to attack a synagogue near his northwest Las Vegas home.
“The defendant is a member of the Feuerkrieg Division of Atomwaffen, which is known as an organization that encourages, and may even commit, violent attacks on people of the Jewish religion, homosexuals, African-Americans and federal infrastructures,” Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe wrote in Climo’s detention order.
“The defendant had gathered component parts that can readily be assembled into a destructive device,” said Koppe, and “had very specific plans about attacking one specific synagogue near his house,” including “wanting to light an incendiary device and having others join him to shoot people as they came out of the synagogue.”
Climo claimed to have tried to recruit a homeless individual for pre-attack surveillance against at least one Las Vegas synagogue and other targets. He could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted, according to The Associated Press.
