A 22-year-old man has admitted to a plot intended to kill multiple people at a political party headquarters in Michigan and at a nearby bar because he associated both places with gay people.
Mack Davis pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Flint to committing a hate crime by attempting to carry out a mass killing, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Michigan said.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled April 15. Davis faces any term of years in prison up to life. The judge will determine the guideline range at sentencing.
Davis conducted online research and posted on social media about mass killings from at least July 2023 through June 2024, according to court documents.
Authorities also found writings about mass killers in a journal in his Owosso, Michigan, home. Owosso is about 92 miles (148 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.
Lists of weapons and tactical gear, along with two firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a crossbow and arrows, bomb-making parts, smoke grenades and knives also were found, prosecutors said.
An anti-gay slur was inscribed on one of the knives.
Court documents did not list the party of the political office targeted, but said Davis described it in a social media post as being filled with “far left liberal” followed by a homophobic slur.
Two vehicles belonging to neighbors of Davis also were vandalized, authorities said.
An anti-gay slur was painted on one of the vehicles in June. About two days later the same vehicle was shot as Davis test-fired an illegal, short-barreled rifle by firing about 60 rounds from a bedroom window into neighboring properties, documents said.
Davis was arrested by local police for the shooting and later transferred to federal custody.
Dawn Ison, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, called the mass killing plans “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,” Ison said in a news release.
On Wednesday, Davis’ public defender disputed that account.
“Mr. Davis did not intentionally harm anyone despite having multiple opportunities to do so,” Bryan J. Sherer of the Federal Defender Office in Flint told The Associated Press in an email.
“The information that was found by the police was found in Mr. Davis’ private journal inside his bedroom,” Sherer said. “Mr. Davis was brought to the attention of police only after purposefully shooting into multiple unoccupied vehicles. He does not have a history of violent behavior toward others prior to being charged in this case with an attempted hate crime.”