CINCINNATI (WCMH) – A self-described incel pleaded guilty Tuesday to planning to shoot women at an Ohio university last year.

Tres Genco, 22, of Hillsboro, Highland County, admitted to plotting to commit a hate crime. He was arrested by federal agents in July 2021 and has been in custody since. He pleaded guilty in U.S. Federal Court to one count of attempting to commit a hate crime, which carries a possible life sentence because it involved an attempt to kill someone.

Court documents said Genco identified as an incel or “involuntary celibate.” The term applies to members of an online community of men who allegedly seek to violently attack women because the men’s romantic attentions have been spurned.

According to court records, Genco had profiles on a popular incel website from at least July 2019 through mid-March 2020, posting hundreds of times.

Court records state Genco posted online about how he sprayed “some foids (women) and couples” with orange juice in a water gun, saying it was an “extremely empowering action.” Genco also allegedly wrote a manifesto that said he would “slaughter” women “out of hatred, jealousy, and revenge.”

In 2019, Genco purchased tactical gear, a Bowie knife, a skull mask, magazines and clips for several firearms, among other items. Later that year, he attended Army Basic Training in Georgia before being discharged for entry-level performance in conduct in December 2019.

Law enforcement agents reported finding a note from Genco that said he hoped to “aim big” by killing 3,000 people. Investigators also found that Genco searched online for sororities and an unspecified university in Ohio on the same day he wrote his manifesto.

Genco’s court documents also allege that he surveilled an Ohio university on Jan. 15, 2020. That same day, he searched online for topics including “planning a shooting crime” and “when does preparing for a crime become an attempt?”

On March 12, 2020, Highland County sheriff’s deputies served a search warrant at Genco’s home, where, hidden in a heating vent in his bedroom, officers found a modified semiautomatic handgun with no manufacturer’s marks or serial number. In his car, officers reportedly found a firearm with a bump stock, several loaded magazines, body armor, and ammunition.

“Genco formulated a plot to kill women and intended to carry it out. Our federal and local law enforcement partners stopped that from happening,” U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker said in a press release. “Hate has no place in our country – including gender-based hate – and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to vigorously prosecute any such conduct.”

A sentencing date for Genco has not been set.

Genco compared himself online to Elliot Rodger, a known incel who in May 2014 killed six people and injured 14 others, including shooting people outside a University of California, Santa Barbara sorority house. Prior to his shooting spree, Rodger also shot a group of students with orange juice from a water gun. Rodger died from suicide.