A Las Vegas man has been arrested and charged with plotting attacks on a gay bar and other targets in the city, Buzzfeed News reports.

Conor Climo, a 23-year-old security guard, was arrested Thursday following a Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation led by the FBI. FBI officials claim Climo, using "derogatory racial, anti-Semitic, and homosexual slurs," sent encrypted messages to other white supremacists discussing potential attacks using Molotov cocktails and other improvised explosives.

Chatting online with an FBI informant, Climo reportedly said he had identified possible targets including a synagogue, Anti-Defamation League headquarters, and what he believed to be a gay bar on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.

The FBI began investigating Climo after learning he was communicating with members of the National Socialist Movement, a white supremacist group, and Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi terrorist network that has encouraged attacks against the government and minorities including members of the LGBTQ community.

According to court documents, Climo told FBI agents he had joined the Feuerkrieg Division, a splinter of Atomwaffen, because the organization "offered him glory and the ability to contribute his knowledge of constructing explosive devices toward a 'righteous' cause." He said he left the group due to their inaction.

Climo confirmed to agents that he "harbors biases and hatred toward various racial and religious groups" including the black, Jewish, and LGBTQ communities. He also said he was planning to assemble an eight-man "sniper platoon" and recruit a homeless person for surveillance.

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

Searching Climo's home, authorities found bomb-making components, multiple rifles, and hand-drawn schematics for his planned attacks. One sketch showed two "infantry squads" targeting the bar with firearms.

Climo faces multiple federal charges including one count of possession of an unregistered firearm. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. His next court date is scheduled for August 23.

Climo made headlines in 2016 when he announced plans to protect his neighborhood with an assault rifle. "If there is a possibly very determined enemy, we have at least the means to deal with it," he told a KTNV reporter.