Based on internet postings he’d made and information he was gathering about synagogue and mosque locations, the FBI suspected he was planning attacks against Muslims and Jews in the Boulder area. Gilreath denied that that is what his plans were.

In El Paso, police believe that Patrick Crusius, 21, is the sole perpetrator of a domestic terrorist attack that killed 22. His racist four-page “manifesto”, posted on 8chan prior to the shooting, says he wanted to stop the “Hispanic invasion of Texas” and that he drew inspiration from the March mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, which killed 51 and injured 49.

FBI Special Agent Justin Stern revealed in the warrant, executed on July 31, that the FBI had previously interviewed Gilreath on Jan. 24 in Boulder “after receiving information that Gilreath had posted a ‘Montana Hunting Guide’ online.” Stern said Gilreath was identified as the poster “after receiving a tip advising that a then-unknown entity was posting ‘hunting guides’ concerning: Jews; Muslims; Bureau of Land Management and Montana National Guard facilities; and a refugee center.”

Stern added: “I am aware that FBI investigators understand some such ‘hunting guides’ to contain information that may be used to violently target individuals or entities with belief systems, identities, ethnicities, religions, political views or other matters antithetical to their own.”

The special agent said that “although Gilreath did not label himself a white supremacist, Gilreath wanted the white race to win at life.” Gilreath claimed he’d posted the hunting guide online “hoping that people would protest at the listed locations” and not because he intended violence against them.

He explained that he listed the locations that he did because “refugees are in the United States illegally and are taking resources, many people don’t like Muslims, the Bureau of Land Management takes land from people … and Jews are responsible for the refugee crisis.”

The search of Gilreath’s phone uncovered a video of the Christchurch massacre along with an iPhone “notes” section entry referencing Oklahoma City Federal Building bomber Timothy McVeigh and an interest in C4 explosives. The special agent said the title of the note was “Tim’s favorite reading,” the summary of the note was “Homemade C-4,” and the body of the note included entries such as “Improvised Munitions.”

The special agent also listed some of Gilreath’s web searches, including: “9mm small pistol,” “best small 380 pistol,” “Black Death Jewish persecutions,” “Mosque Locations USA,” “United Nations Association of Boulder County,” “Israel Did 911,” “jewish conspiracy exposed,” “Mosques and Islamic Schools in Denver,” “Synagogues in Boulder,” “Timothy McVeigh,” “Well poisoning,” and “uranium thorium fusion bomb.”

Gilreath tried, and failed, to buy a gun in May but during the background check the ATF blocked the purchase because he was “previously adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution on March 21, 2016.”

His phone ended up in the hands of the authorities when he left it on a bus and child porn images were discovered by cleaning staff. According to the criminal complaint, Gilreath’s phone “includes thousands of still images of prepubescent minor males and females” from infants to pre-teens, with some of the images depicting “violence,” “bondage,” and “sexual torture.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray has repeatedly warned about white supremacist violence, telling Congress earlier this year that the danger posed by it is “significant” and that the FBI assesses that it is a “persistent, pervasive threat.” In July, Wray said the FBI made roughly 100 domestic terrorism arrests over the prior nine months and that “a majority of the domestic terrorism cases we’ve investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacist violence.”