In the two weeks since a gunman killed 22 people in El Paso, law enforcement officials say they have thwarted six separate mass shootings or white supremacist attacks, The Guardian reports. At least four of the alleged foiled plots also appeared to involve men espousing far-right viewpoints and racist ideologies, with echoes of the Texas massacre. The 21-year-old suspect in that shooting, considered the deadliest anti-Latino attack in modern U.S. history, allegedly authored a racist anti-immigrant “manifesto.” In online posts, the suspects in these recent cases targeted LGBTQ people, Jewish people, black Americans, Latinos and Muslims. Four of them were white men in their 20s, and all but one of them were believed to be armed, some with extensive weaponry.
Five days after the El Paso attack, police arrested Conor Climo, 23, saying the Las Vegas man wanted to attack Jews and an LGBTQ bar and was trying to build a bomb. A week later, Brandon Wagshol, 22, was arrested in Connecticut after he allegedly wrote on Facebook of his interest in committing a mass shooting. In Daytona Beach, Fl., Tristan Scott Wix, 25, was arrested Friday after he allegedly sent violent and threatening texts to his ex-girlfriend, saying he wanted to commit a mass shooting. The next day, New Middletown, Oh., police charged James Reardon, 20, saying he had threatened to commit a shooting at a Jewish community center. Authorities announced Tuesday the arrest of Maryland resident Eric Lin, 35, for social media threats against Miami Hispanics. Also on Tuesday, law enforcement announced the arrest of Thomas Matthew McVicker, 38, a truck driver accused of threatening a mass shooting at a Memphis church. Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism said there is often a cluster of violent threats and possible copycat attacks after high-profile mass shootings.