Twenty-three-year-old Conor Climo has been arrested and accused of plotting to firebomb a Las Vegas synagogue or a bar catering to LGTBQ customers, officials said Friday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe on Friday ordered Climo to remain in federal custody until an August 23 court appearance.
In court documents obtained by NBC Los Angeles, Climo had been monitored communicating via encrypted internet chat with individuals identified as white supremacists. He also recently told an FBI informant he was “scouting places to attack.”
Arriving at Climo’s home with a search warrant, investigators found “hand-drawn schematics and component parts of a destructive device” which included oxidizing agents, flammable liquids and circuit boards. An AR-15 assault-style weapon and a bolt-action rifle were also confiscated during the search, reports NBC LA.
Climo has been charged with possessing an unregistered firearm in the form of the component parts of a destructive device.
A statement from the U.S. attorney’s office said, “Climo would regularly use derogatory racial, anti-Semitic and homosexual slurs.”
“He discussed attacking a Las Vegas synagogue and making Molotov Cocktails and improvised explosive devices,” continued the statement. “He also discussed conducting surveillance on a bar he believed catered to the LGBTQ community.”
Back in 2016, local news station KTNV-TV reported on Climo, 20-years-old at the time, “patrolling” his neighborhood wearing battle gear and carrying an assault rifle and survival knife.
“I’ll pretty much stay within constitutional bounds when I’m doing this,” he told KTNV.
“Pretty much stay within constitutional bounds???”
He also told the reporter he would be looking for ‘suspicious activity,’ which he defined as “people outside when they’re not supposed to be.”
Think about that one for a minute.
Climo admitted he had no formal training in patrolling, policing, or dealing with possibly tense situations.
