A 22-year-old Michigan man has pleaded guilty to plotting mass killings targeting LGBTQ+ individuals, with the possibility of facing life imprisonment.
Mack Davis admitted to planning attacks on a political party’s headquarters and a bar he associated with the LGBTQI+ community, driven by explicit hatred.
Court documents reveal Davis had been studying past mass killers as early as July 2023 and began formulating his own plans. By June 2024, he had gathered the weapons and tools he documented for the attacks, including a knife engraved with a homophobic slur.
Davis’s disturbing actions escalated in June when he vandalised vehicles with hateful messages and fired 60 bullets into his neighbours’ homes. After his arrest for the shooting, police uncovered his detailed plans for mass killings. He has remained in custody since.
Michigan Eastern District Attorney Dawn N. Ison condemned Davis’s actions in a statement from the US Department of Justice, calling his intentions “chilling.” She said, “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. I applaud the work of law enforcement in disrupting this awful plot and arresting Davis before he could carry out his planned attacks.”
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke echoed the sentiment, adding: “This kind of vile and heinous hate-fueled violence, intended to target innocent people based on their sexual orientation, runs contrary to our values as Americans. Bias-motivated crimes targeting the LGBTQI+ community will not be tolerated. The Justice Department will continue using every tool at our disposal to protect communities from the scourge of hate-fueled violence.”
