Steven Carrillo, 32. Photos / AP
In an eight-day span, a United States Air Force sergeant fatally shot a federal security officer and wounded his partner outside a courthouse.
He ambushed and killed a California sheriff's deputy and injured four other officers, federal authorities said today.
In announcing murder and attempted murder charges in the shooting of the security personnel, authorities alleged Staff Sergeant Steven Carrillo, 32, had ties to the far-right, anti-government "boogaloo" movement.
The plot to target them was allegedly hatched a day earlier during an online chat with an accomplice and a third person.
David Patrick Underwood, 53, was killed and his partner was wounded as they guarded the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland while a large demonstration over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was underway nearby.
1) Yet another one: Feds file charges against cop-killer Steven Carrillo, who ascribed to much talked about #Boogaloo movement. This term, referring to anti-gov objective to bring civil war, is uniting different corners of far right under common umbrella. https://t.co/PoCMWWmHBL pic.twitter.com/7TauWHHfrP
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) June 16, 2020
Officials said Carrillo used the protest as cover for the crime and for his escape.
"Pat Underwood was murdered because he wore a uniform," David Anderson, US Attorney for the Northern District of California, said at a news conference at the Dellums building.
Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf called the killing an assassination.
Carrillo's lawyer, Jeffrey Strotter, said he doesn't have any evidence his client was in contact with anyone in the boogaloo movement, which the lawyer called a terrorist organisation that uses social media to reach out "to vulnerable and possibly susceptible individuals who may be receptive to their messages of hate and destruction."
Carrillo "has personally expressed to me his sadness and sympathy for everyone that has been harmed by the tragic events in his case," Stotter said.
Carrillo separately faces state charges in the June 6 fatal shooting of Santa Cruz County sheriff's Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller and the wounding of four other officers in the community of Ben Lomond outside the beachfront city of Santa Cruz south of San Francisco.
Federal authorities say the same homemade AR-15-style rifle was used in the two shootings.
Carrillo was stationed at Travis Air Force Base northeast of Oakland where he was a leader in an elite military security force and had no record of disciplinary issues.
Federal authorities say they linked him to the boogaloo movement from social media posts and from phrases he had written in his own blood when he was arrested following the ambush of the deputy.
The boogaloo movement got its name from the panned 1984 movie Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo and uses the title as a code word for a second civil war, authorities say.
Adherents have attended protests against government shutdowns over the coronavirus.
They are easy to spot with their trademark Hawaiian shirts and high-powered rifles and tactical gear.
Facebook earlier this month moved to limit the movement's exposure on its platform by no longer recommending user groups associated with the term "boogaloo" to members of similar associations. Other derivations of "boogaloo" are "big igloo" or "big luau."
Federal authorities said they found an American flag-like patch on Carrillo's bulletproof vest that depicted an igloo and a Hawaiian-style print.
This new indictment shows Boogaloo extremists plotted on Facebook to exploit Black Lives Matter protests to further their cause for a second civil war.
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 16, 2020
"This needs to be nationwide,” one wrote on Facebook.
An alleged accomplice responded "let’s boogie."https://t.co/H9f6vZZg5C
Authorities do not believe the Oakland attackers coordinated with three Nevada men suspected of plotting to spark violence during recent protests in Las Vegas and identifying with the "boogaloo" movement.
In their criminal complaint, federal officials described a hastily hatched plan to target federal law enforcement officials during the protest in Oakland. I
n a Facebook group that included his alleged accomplice, Robert Alvin Justus, 30, and an unidentified third person, Carrillo linked to a video showing a crowd attacking two California Highway Patrol vehicles. He wrote: "It's on our coast now, this needs to be nationwide. It's a great opportunity to target the specialty soup bois. Keep that energy going."
The complaint states "boogaloo" adherents refer to federal law enforcement as "soup bois" because federal agencies sometimes are referred to as "alphabet soup" due to their varied acronyms. The complaint says Justus responded with "lets boogie."
The third member of the chat later wrote that Oakland might be "popping off" with police protests.
Before it was known that the shooter and his accomplice are connected to the right-wing boogaloo movement, DHS's Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli called the Oakland shooting "an act of domestic terrorism." https://t.co/xVFneo2b4T
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 16, 2020
The next day, Carrillo drove from Travis Air Force Base and picked up Justus. He offered him body armour and a firearm.
Justus, who turned himself in after the deputy was killed, told investigators he wouldn't take the weapon and gear.
Justus said he drove Carrillo's white van, parked it near the courthouse and then did a 10-minute walk around the area. Justus told investigators that he did not want to participate in the killing but felt he was forced to because he was trapped in the van with Carrillo.
No, the name has nothing to do with race. It's a joke: Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo. The majority of boogalooers, in any case, are anti-government/anti-police extremists, not white supremacists.
— Mark Pitcavage (@egavactip) June 16, 2020
According to the complaint, authorities reminded him that he had left the van and could have got away at any time. Justus claimed he was trying to think of ways to talk Carrillo out of his plan.
After he returned to the van Justus drove past the guard station where Underwood and his partner were located and Carrillo fired from an open sliding door.
Justus told investigators Carrillo seemed "thrilled" after the shooting, the complaint said.
Surveillance video showed the shooting and authorities asked for the public's help finding the van.
Republicans repeatedly exploited the murder of Patrick Underwood to try to equate Black Lives Matters "rioters" to the police officer who murdered George Floyd.
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) June 17, 2020
Today we learned that Underwood was killed by a member of the far-right "Boogaloo" movementhttps://t.co/na2WcWEUaI https://t.co/gCIRTvSX7v
On June 6, a citizen spotted an abandoned white van in Santa Cruz County and reported noticing ammunition, firearms and bomb-making ingredients inside.
The vehicle identification number was traced to Carrillo's home in Ben Lomond and that's where authorities say he ambushed the officers, showering them with gunfire and explosives from a hillside.
Carrillo is being held in custody in jail in Monterey County. He is expected to enter a plea to the state charges next month.
Justus is charged with aiding and abetting the murder and attempted murder of the federal officers.
-AP