An Owosso, Michigan man was sentenced on April 16 to seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempting a hate-motivated mass attack, according to United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr.
The case highlights concerns about the rise of hate crimes and antisemitism. Authorities said the defendant targeted locations he believed would contain members of the LGBTQ community and expressed hostility toward various groups in his writings.
Court documents show that Mack Davis, age 23, became obsessed with other mass murderers and planned an attack using weapons and tactical gear. His writings revealed surveillance of churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, hospitals, and supermarkets. Davis also posted photos making Nazi salutes while holding Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf.
Davis reportedly focused his plan on attacking a political party’s county headquarters and a bar because he believed both would have homosexuals present. He wrote that he intended to “fire on anyone and anything” near those sites. Before law enforcement intervened, Davis fired approximately 60 bullets into neighbors’ cars—one previously vandalized with an anti-gay slur—which led police to disrupt his plans. During a search of his home, officers found illegal firearms including a sawed-off rifle and shotgun; hundreds of rounds of ammunition; bomb-making materials; tactical gear; knives marked with hateful messages; as well as evidence that he had defiled an Israeli flag.
“Davis devised wicked plans. He said he would kill ‘anyone and anything’ that crossed his path and planned to attack homosexuals. And his venom for Jews is part of the sickening rise in antisemitism and attacks against believers. But we will protect every American,” U.S. Attorney Gorgon said.
“There is no room for targeted hate crimes against any citizen on American soil, including in our community of Owosso,” said Jennifer Runyan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. “We are grateful for the strong collaboration between our FBI Flint Resident Agency, the Owosso Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Michigan State Police in disrupting this hate-inspired plot before anyone was harmed. Let this sentence serve as a notice that if you target others with hate or violence, you will face the full weight of justice under federal law.”
The investigation involved multiple agencies including the FBI Detroit Field Office (Flint Resident Agency), Owosso Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms (ATF), Michigan State Police as well as assistance from the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
