An anti-government extremist in Ohio built homemade machine guns, stockpiled silencers and bomb-making materials, and acquired a rifle-mounted grenade launcher—which he later said he received in a trade along with some “primo cocaine”—as part of a scheme to kill as many government officials as possible before police killed him, according to a criminal complaint obtained first by The Daily Beast.
Sandusky resident Aron McKillips, 29, was arrested Tuesday by members of a task force from the FBI’s Cleveland Division. He is a “well-known member” of the Boogaloo Bois, a loosely affiliated militia group seeking to overthrow the government by touching off a second Civil War, states the complaint, which was unsealed Tuesday in Toledo federal court. McKillips is charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun and interstate communication of threats.
Investigators say McKillips spoke often to other members, some of whom turned out to be federal informants, about his violent plans—including his desire to “blow up the IRS,” destroy Facebook headquarters, and carry out a copycat attack modeled on the deadly 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas country music concert. More prosaically, McKillips talked about detonating a pipe bomb at a local child support office last year over processing fees, the complaint states.
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“This shit started out being a fucking way to kill feds,” McKillips allegedly said in an audio recording posted to a Signal chat room last year in which he talked about “burning down federal buildings and shooting federal agents.”
“That’s what we were about,” McKillips continued, according to the complaint. “The main fucking beginning was kill feds, kill police, kill government officials. Kill them. Murder them. Unalive them. Delete them. Get rid of them. And then it became ‘we’re gonna do this peaceful.’ Fuck that.”
In another Signal chat, McKillips, who said he’d travel out of state to “smoke a hog,” lamented the fact that “noone [sic] wants to raid government building [sic] with me,” according to the complaint. When another user responded, “That’s too much drama,” McKillop allegedly replied, “Not yet, not till I mail a feds [sic] head back to his wife.”
Named after a 1980s film about breakdancing, the Boogaloo Bois are generally associated with the extreme right but have also been seen providing security at Black Lives Matters protests. At least two individuals who participated in the January 6 Capitol riots were also associated with the movement. McKillips is also reportedly a member of the New Sons of Liberty (NSOL) militia group, which advocates violence in pursuit of a far-right future.
McKillips’ online activity shows him to be a prolific shitposter, echoing right-wing talking points about “stormtrooper-esque” IRS agents and mocking Paul Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after he was attacked by an intruder with a hammer over the weekend.
Neil McElroy, McKillips’ court-appointed defense attorney, told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that his client is scheduled to appear before a judge later this afternoon, and that he will meet with him for the first time at some point prior.
The investigation into McKillips, whose Facebook profile says he works as a welder, can be traced back to New Year’s Eve 2020, when he was stopped for a traffic violation by the Sandusky Police Department, according to the complaint.
Officers found “several hundred rounds of 5.56mm and 9mm ammunition, body armor, AR-15 rifle upper receiver, parachute flares, medical kits, firearm components, and military style equipment” in the rear of McKillips’ car, as well as “two marijuana roaches in the center console,” which cops seized. McKillips was issued a citation and released, the complaint says.
On Jan. 21, 2021, one of at least half a dozen confidential informants cited in the complaint provided investigators with screenshots of a Signal chat during which a user with the handle “Prison (NW-OH) NSOL” posted a photo of an AR-15-type rifle fitted with a grenade launcher, according to the complaint. The profile included an Ohio phone number, which police linked back to an “Aaron McKillips” at Aron McKillips’ home address. (The Daily Beast has redacted all personally identifiable information from the filing.)
About three weeks later, a different confidential informant gave investigators screenshots of another chat in which McKillips allegedly posted a series of disturbing messages under the name “prisonoh,” meaning “Prison Ohio.”
“According to the screenshots, McKillips indicated that the government took some money from him and he still owed the government money,” the complaint states. “Prisonoh then indicated that ‘Ive [sic] got some planning to do brother,’ and that ‘its [sic] time i do something for the movement.’’
“Prisonoh then reiterated that he had planning to do, and said ‘The fight may be coming to my door sooner than later,’” the complaint added, noting that later he “also offered to sell an AR-15 type rifle fitted with what appears to be a grenade launcher, along with three ‘flash bangs’ and a ‘triple pouch,’” a piece of tactical gear that holds three rifle magazines.
The complaint states McKillips made several concerning statements in the Signal chat, including discussing killing informants, his approval of another Boogaloo member who killed a law enforcement officer, and selling several firearms. McKillips also allegedly discussed “drilling out the top of his door and filling it with Tannerite”—an explosive that prosecutors note could cause a door to explode “if it was shot with a rifle, perhaps during an anticipated stand-off with law enforcement officers.”
In April 2021, McKillips allegedly provided drop-in auto sears—or “DIAS,” which are attachments that turn semi-automatic firearms into fully-automatic machine guns—to several Boogaloo Bois in Lansing, Michigan. Prosecutors note that McKillips “instructed each person on how the DIAS worked” before performing a function check on the weapons themselves. In August, McKillips discussed trading an auto-sear for a “whisper pickle,” slang for a silencer, the complaint states, adding that McKillips boasted about “literally handing out machine guns in Michigan.”
The complaint states that in another chat, McKillips admitted that he wanted “to shoot someone in the chest with a grenade launcher he allegedly acquired” and “said if he were to be arrested, he would not be taken alive, noting he slept with his rifle.”
The following month, one of the confidential informants told investigators that McKillips had been at a protest at the Richland County Jail in Mansfield, Ohio, to “support an inmate who had been killed by corrections officers,” according to the complaint.
“After the protest, the protestors arrived at a house for a party,” it continues. “According to [the informant], during the party, McKillips stated he had an AK-47 that he traded for a .308 that he then traded for a grenade launcher and some ‘primo cocaine.’ McKillips said his grenade launcher was firing pin activated and he had the knowledge to make high explosive rounds that he could shoot out of the launcher.”
In June, McKillips participated in a Black Lives Matter protest in Louisville, providing security and blocking “off traffic for other protesters,” the complaint states. On July 6, 2021, McKillips posted several recordings in a Signal chat where he talked about shooting federal agents and burning down government buildings, prosecutors say.
“Ain’t Got a federal badge off a corpse yet, so my time here ain’t near done yet lol,” McKillips said in one of the recordings, according to the complaint. “I don’t believe in anything. I’m only here for the violence so-we gonna fucking start killing people like federal agents and shit or are we gonna fucking sit here and jerk off?”
In the same recording, McKillips is also allegedly heard saying he is “down to go to like riots and shit” and “would really like to uh-put that energy toward like federal buildings or uh police departments.”
“Yes, fuck mass corporations but still I’d rather put that energy towards fucking the White House,” he added. “Alright, alright so fuck Target. Fuck Walmart. Fuck all those one fucking corporations. Don’t attack the mom and pa shops and we’re fucking good. Burn down and loot Target…Leave Sears alone cause they got really good [unintelligible] selection of tools and stuff cause I’m poor.”
In October 2021, prosecutors say McKillips also took aim at a child support office—allegedly discussing planting a pipe bomb in the building because they charged the mother of his children a processing fee.
Throughout 2022, McKillips continued building automatic rifles, saying on Signal that he was ready to “do God’s work,” the complaint states. In April, he posted a photograph of himself “driving on the highway with the comment ‘omw to raid Columbus ATF office,’” it notes. He shared a picture of an AR-15 pointed out the window at a police car across the street, and allegedly sold an undercover informant an auto-sear device during a controlled buy in September.
Last month, McKillips wrote in the Boogaloo Bois Signal chat “that he believed he was going to be raided by law enforcement.”
“Needless to say 2 cops were on the corner I didn’t notice at first, so now my AR is on my chest,” he allegedly said in the chat.
McKillips is set to appear Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Darrell A. Clay.
