Ohio man sentenced in mass shooting plot targeting women
An Ohio man who identifies as an “Incel” and wanted to conduct a mass shooting of women at a university was sentenced to 80 months in prison.
Tres Genco, 24, admitted he plotted to commit a hate crime by shooting women at a university in Ohio. Federal agents arrested him in 2021 and has remained in custody ever since.
“Genco intended to carry out a devastating mass murder of innocent women in this state for no other reason than the fact that he hated them. Everybody deserves to live without threats of violence or fearing acts of terror,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker. “Genco’s sentence reflects the need to protect the community from him for a significant period of time. I thank each of our law enforcement partners for working together to keep our community safe.”
Genco identified as an Incel or “involuntary celibate.” The Incel movement is mostly an online male community that harbors anger toward women, fueled by their inability to convince women to have sex with them.
Court documents say Genco maintained profiles on a popular Incel website from July 2019 to March 2020 and posted more than 450 times on the site.
In one post, Genco wrote about spraying “some foids and couples” with orange juice in a water gun. Foids is an incel term that is short for “femoids,” referring to women. Genco compared his conduct to Elliot Rodger, the man who killed six people and injured 14 others outside of a sorority house in California in May 2014. Prior to Rodger’s attack, he shot a group of college students with orange juice from a water gun.
Genco wrote a manifesto stating he would “slaughter” women “out of hatred, jealousy and revenge” referring to death as the “great equalizer.”
The investigation revealed, on the same day he wrote the manifesto, that Genco searched for two sorotities, including one at Ohio State. His Google searches included “sorority osu” and “ohio state university sororities.”
In 2019, Genco purchased tactical gloves, a bulletproof vest, a hoodie bearing the word “Revenge,” cargo pants, a bowie knife, a skull facemask and two Glock 17 magazines, a 9 mm Glock 17 clip and a holster clip concealed for a Glock.
During the investigation, law enforcement agents found a note of Genco’s that indicated he wanted to kill as many as 3,000 people and attend military training.
Genco attended basic training for the Army in Georgia from August through December 2019. He was discharged for entry-level performance and conduct.
In January 2020, the DOJ said Genco wrote a document titled “isolated” which he described as “the writings of the deluded and homicidal.” Genco signed the document, “Your hopeful friend and murderer.”
On March 11, 2020, Genco screenshotted information on his phone about radio codes for Columbus police and Ohio State University police. He also accessed the Facebook pages for one of the university’s sororities.
The next day, authorities responded to Genco’s residence. Police officers found a firearm with a bump stock attached, several loaded magazines, body armor and boxes of ammunition in the trunk of his car. Inside the home, officers found a modified Glock-style 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, with no manufacturer marks or serial number, hidden in a heating vent.
As part of Genco’s plea deal, he admitted he possessed both firearms in furtherance of his plot.
Genco pleaded guilty in October 2022 to one count of attempting to commit a hate crime.
