A Las Vegas man who once claimed he was protecting his neighborhood while patrolling on foot with an assault rifle has been arrested and charged with plotting to carry out an attack on a synagogue and an LGBTQ bar in the city.

Conor Climo, 23, allegedly sent encrypted messages to white supremacists this year discussing a possible attack using Molotov cocktails and other improvised explosives, federal officials said Friday.

Climo told the FBI he had also been looking at creating an eight-man "sniper platoon" to conduct a shooting attack against Jews, court documents said, a plan he said he had been considering for two years. The 23-year-old also claimed he was trying to recruit a homeless person to conduct surveillance on a possible target, according to the complaint.



"Threats of violence motivated by hate and intended to intimidate or coerce our faith-based and LGBTQ communities have no place in this country," US Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich said in a statement.

Climo faces multiple federal charges, including one count of possession of an unregistered firearm. If convicted, he faces a 10-year sentence in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.


The criminal complaint alleges Climo had been communicating with a white supremacist organization that encouraged attacks against the federal government, infrastructure targets, members of minority groups, and members of the LGBTQ community.

Climo had already caused concern among his neighbors in 2016 when, in a video posted to his now-deleted YouTube channel, he announced plans to patrol his Centennial Hills neighborhood with an AR-15–style rifle, four 30-round clips, and camouflaged packs.

"If there is a possibly very determined enemy, we have at least the means to deal with it," Climo told a news reporter at the time.

Climo scrapped his plans to patrol the neighborhood after it was reported by local media, and said that he planned to join a typical neighborhood watch group.