Aron McKillips, Ohio ‘Boogaloo Boi’ Arrested: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Aron McKillips is a member of the Boogaloo Bois extremist group arrested in Ohio with a grenade launcher and homemade machine guns after threatening to kill government employees in hopes of sparking a second civil war, federal authorities said in court documents. McKillips was arrested on October 31, 2022.

McKillips was charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun and interstate communication of threats, according to documents filed in the Northern District of Ohio federal court obtained by Heavy. The Daily Beast first reported on the court documents revealing McKillips’ arrest.

Federal prosecutors and the FBI haven’t commented on the case. McKillips remained in federal custody as of November 1, 2022, records showed.

Here’s what you need to know about accused Boogalo Bois member Aron McKillips:

1. Aron McKillips Was a ‘Well-Known’ Member of the ‘Boogaloo Bois’ & Federal Investigators Obtained Months of Communications Between Him & Other Members of the Extremist Group, Documents Show

According to the FBI, the case against McKillips was built using multiple “confidential human sources,” along with social media communications and postings and messages and chats on Discord, Signal and Keybase. The FBI said McKillips is a “well-known member” of the Boogaloo Bois and is also a member of the New Sons of Liberty Milita Group. He has traveled around the U.S. for protests, meetings and trainings with other members of the extremist group anti-government extremist group and militia, the FBI said in the affidavit.

In chats, McKillips used the name “prisonoh” and “Prison OH,’ the FBI said. He was a “sector leader” of NSOL-OH, a local group of the New Sons of Liberty, the FBI said. According to the affidavit, they “discussed in the Signal chat group about attacking the power grid and taking out sub-stations.”

McKillips attended several Black Lives Matter and anti-police protests in Ohio and elsewhere, according to the FBI. He and other Boogaloo Bois “provided security” for protesters in Louisville in May 2021, according to the FBI.

He talked in a chat group in July 2021 about “burning down federal buildings and shooting federal agents,” saying, “I don’t believe in anything. I’m only here for the violence. So we gonna f***** start killing people like federal agents and s*** or are we gonna f***** sit here and jerk off,” the FBI said. He also said, “I just wanna blow up the IRS.”

McKillips also talked about carrying out an attack or shooting on an ATF office in Columbus, according to the affidavit. He wrote in a May 2022 Signal chat, ““I’ve been saying this awhile but noone wants to raid government building with me,” adding he wanted to send a “feds head back to his wife.”

Read More From Heavy

The Boogaloo Movement: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

2. McKillips Built Machine Guns & Traded a Gun for a ‘Grenade Launcher’ & ‘Primo Cocaine,’ the FBI Says in an Affidavit

The FBI said McKillips was building his own machine guns and other gun parts and buying, selling and trading guns, weapons and other materials, according to the affidavit.

The FBI wrote, “The witness claimed that McKillips was likely making illegal firearms. The witness stated that they had seen one of the firearms, knowing it was fully automatic, as it had a third hole that had been drilled out. The witness also stated that McKillips made statements about drilling out the top of his door and filling it with Tannerite.”

That witness also told the FBI McKillips tried to sell an M-45 and an AK-47 with fully automatic capabilities and offered to convert the witnesses’ AK-47 to a fully automatic firearm, according to the affidavit.

In May 2021, McKillips told an FBI source he had an AK-47 and traded it for a .308, which he then traded for a “grenande launcher and some ‘primo cocaine.'” McKillips said his “grenade launcher was firing pin activated and he had the knowledge to make high explosive rounds that he could shoot out of the launcher,” the FBI said in the affidvait.

3. McKillips Grew Up in Sandusky, Ohio, & Works as a Welder, According to His Facebook Page

McKillips grew up in Sandusky, Ohio, and he attended Perkins High School in Sandusky, according to his Facebook page. McKillips works as a welder at a Sandusky manufacturing company, according to his Facebook page. McKillips’ Instagram and Twitter accounts are set to private.

The affidavit details two interactions McKillips had with police in Ohio. According to Ohio court records, McKillips was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia in 2014. He was also charged with illegal target shooting in 2015, records show. In 2021, he was charged with improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle, a felony, records show, but the case was later reduced to a misdemeanor when McKillips pleaded guilty.

The FBI says that in December 2020, McKillips was stopped for a traffic violation by the Sandusky Police and gave consent to a search of his vehicle. The FBI said officers found two marijuana roaches along with several hundred rounds of 5.56mm and 9mm ammunition, body armor, an AR-15 rifle, parachute flares, medical kits, firearm components and military-style equipment. He was cited and released, the FBI said.

On September 11, 2021, McKillips was stopped by police in Tiffin, Ohio, and officers said he “seemed very nervous and had bloodshot eyes,” according to the FBI. “The officer asked if he had any weapons in the vehicle and he pointed to a rifle in the back seat. The officers determined McKillips was improperly carrying the rifle and seized it. McKillips became angry and started yelling from the back of a patrol car.”

After the September incident, McKillips talked about the traffic stop in messages with other members of his group, saying, “Yeah! So guess what, in about two weeks I’m going to f***** shoot some cops so be f***** ready when you see it on the f****** news.” He also said he wanted to “commit war crimes,” according to the FBI.

4. Aron McKillips Posted a Meme on Facebook Mocking the Attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Husband Paul Pelosi a Day Before His Arrest

FacebookA meme posted on Facebook by Aron McKillips.

A day before his arrest, Aron McKillips posted a meme mocking the attack on Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi. The meme shows a photo of the couple with the words “Any plans for tonight?” above Nancy Pelosi’s head and “I think I’ll stay home and get hammered,” above Paul Pelosi’s head.

His Facebook page also includes several posts criticizing the federal government and the tax system. He wrote in an October 2022 post, “If federal tax got removed, and went back to just being voluntary State tax , we’d have less corruption and everyone’s needs would be able to be met , based on paying into an area you’d actually get use from i.e. medical, roads, schooling , what have you, and only put higher taxes on franchise companies (state wise as in Walmarts, Dollar general’s,etc.) And lessened taxes on ma and pa shops and the common individual, we’d have a happier society.”

According to court documents, McKillips also talked about using a pipe bomb on a child support office because they charged a processing fee and didn’t give all of his money to the mother of his children.

5. McKillips Has a Detention Hearing Set for November 9 to Determine if He Will Remain in Federal Custody, Federal Court Records Show

McKillips waived his right to a preliminary hearing on November 1, 2022. He will remain in federal custody at least until a detention hearing that is set for November 9, 2022, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Darrell A. Clay in the Northern District of Ohio, court records show.

McKillips was appointed a federal public defender as his attorney at his first court hearing on November 1, records show. His lawyer could not be reached for comment by Heavy. Prosecutors sought and obtained a temporary order of custody during the hearing. The case will be presented to a grand jury, records show.

Several people associated with the Boogaloo Bois movement have been sentenced to federal prison in recent years. In April 2022, a 24-year-old Texas man received 52 months in prison after being convicted of rioting in connection to the civil unrest in Minnesota following George Floyd’s death, prosecutors said. A 24-year-old North Carolina man was sentenced to 48 months in prison in June in connection to the same case, prosecutors said.

Also in June 2022, a California man, Steven Carrillo was sentenced to 41 years in federal prison on a murder charge for his role in the drive-by shooting of a security guard at a federal courthouse, according to a press release. He also faces state charges. The driver in the shooting, Robert Alvin Justus Jr., also faces federal charges.

Read More From Heavy

Steven Carrillo: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know