Suspect held in Las Vegas attack plot

LAS VEGAS — A man who authorities say worked as a security guard has been arrested and accused of plotting to firebomb a Las Vegas synagogue or a bar catering to gay and transgender customers, officials said Friday.

Conor Climo, 23, of Las Vegas was arrested Thursday by an FBI-led anti-terrorism task force, U.S. Attorney Nicholas Trutanich said in a statement.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe on Friday ordered Climo to remain in federal custody pending an Aug. 23 court appearance on a federal firearms charge.

Court documents say Climo communicated by encrypted Internet chat with people identified as white supremacists, and told an FBI informant in recent weeks that he was scouting places to attack.

Documents point to a 2016 news report by KTNV-TV in Las Vegas about Climo patrolling his neighborhood wearing battle gear and carrying an assault rifle and survival knife. He shows and describes to a reporter the four, 30-bullet ammunition magazines he is carrying.

Neighbors expressed concern, but Climo was not arrested at that time.

Las Vegas police officer Aden Ocampo Gomez noted Friday that Nevada is an open-carry weapon state and Climo broke no laws.

Trutanich said Climo was arrested after an investigation involving at least one undercover online contact and an FBI confidential informant who reported that Climo “discussed, in detail, how to build a “self-contained Molotov” incendiary device.