A Las Vegas security guard who discussed attacks on a synagogue and gay bar has been arrested after authorities found bomb-making materials inside his home, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
Conor Climo, 23, was charged with one count of possession of an unregistered firearm, which federal prosecutors described as “the component parts of a destructive device.”
He allegedly communicated with members of a neo-Nazi group and told law enforcement that he’s considered “various” ways to attack Jewish people over the past two years, including a plan to “mobilize an eight man sniper platoon to conduct a shooting attack on Jewish people either at a Las Vegas synagogue or any other area of opportunity.”
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“Threats of violence motivated by hate and intended to intimidate or coerce our faith-based and LGBTQ communities have no place in this Country,” United States Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich for the District of Nevada said in a press release announcing the charges.
In May, Climo talked about “setting fire to a synagogue and making Molotov cocktails and urea nitrate improvised explosive devices” during an online conversation with an undercover agent, according to a criminal complaint.
“Climo stated that in October 2017, he tried to recruit a homeless person to conduct surveillance on a Las Vegas area synagogue, but ultimately failed,” the complaint states.
On August 8, authorities searched Climo’s home, finding an AR-15 rifle, bolt action rifle, bomb-making materials, and a journal in his room with a hand-drawn picture of an attack on a Las Vegas bar that he thought was frequented by gay people, prosecutors said.
During the search, Climo allegedly told a law-enforcement officer that he began communicating with members of the neo-Nazi group the Feuerkrieg Division using the encrypted chat platform Discord at the end of 2017.
He said he “wanted to be a part of FKD because he wanted to do something ‘generally different’ related to his hatred of African-Americans, Jews, and Homosexuals,” according to the complaint.
“Climo further discussed drawing a plan and designing a bomb he intended to build to assist in a race war on behalf of FKD,” the court papers state.
The 23-year-old allegedly said that he left the neo-Nazi group after becoming “bored” with “their inaction.” He told authorities that around the same time that he was active with the Feuerkrieg Division, he recruited a homeless person to help him carry out surveillance on a synagogue that he was plotting to attack, the complaint says.
Ultimately, that plan “did not come to fruition because he needed more time to create a better method of attack,” he allegedly said.
Climo faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted.
