A judge sentenced an Oakland, California, man to more than 19 years in federal prison for committing a series of arsons and fire bombings at the University of California–Berkeley, and a federal building in June 2024, officials announced Sept. 23.
District Judge Jeffrey White called Casey Robert Goonan, 35, a domestic terrorist, finding he committed a felony offense that involved, or was intended to promote, terrorism, prosecutors reported.
Goonan said the attacks were inspired by terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, according to prosecutors.
Goonan also said he called on others to attack property on San Francisco Bay Area college campuses in support of Palestinians, prosecutors said.
“Goonan admitted that his conduct was designed to influence and affect the conduct of governments by intimidation and coercion and to retaliate against the governments of the United States and the State of California for their conduct,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco reported.
Goonan pleaded guilty in January to one count of maliciously damaging or destroying property used in or affecting interstate commerce by means of fire or an explosive.
Prosecutors said Goonan placed a bag containing six Molotov cocktails under the fuel tank of a marked university police patrol car parked near the Berkeley campus on June 1, 2024.
Goonon was accused of setting the bag on fire and fleeing the area, causing the patrol car to catch fire.
University police responded quickly, and the patrol car did not explode. The fire caused significant damage to its rear seats, fuel port, and trunk, and it was deemed a total loss, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Goonan also tried to firebomb the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland on June 11, 2024. Goonan arrived at the federal building carrying a bag containing three Molotov cocktails. He threw rocks at the building, hoping to break a window and throw lit Molotov cocktails inside, according to prosecutors. The plan was interrupted by security officers.
Goonan then placed the homemade bombs in a planter on the side of the building and lit them on fire, according to court documents.
“In addition to these two attacks, Goonan set other fires on the UC Berkeley campus on June 1, June 13, and June 16, 2024,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported.
A federal grand jury returned the indictment in July 2024, charging Goonan in the firebombing incident.
In addition to the prison term, the judge ordered Goonan to serve 15 years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of nearly $95,000.
Goonan has remained in custody since his arrest on June 17, 2024.
“Freedom of expression and peaceful protest are deeply enshrined values in America,” said U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian. “We are all free to think what we want and express those views peacefully, but the use of violence to achieve political aims—or to silence those with whom you may disagree—has no place in our community and our country.”
Wade Stern, president of the Federated University Peace Officers Association, representing the 350 sworn campus officers and sergeants, applauded the sentence.
“This domestic terrorist deliberately targeted our officers and our campuses with firebombs in acts of cowardice, hatred, and violence,” Stern said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times.
“His calculated attempt to burn a University of California police vehicle, followed by an effort to attack a federal courthouse, was not just an attack on property—it was an attack on the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep our universities safe, and on the very principles of safety, freedom, and civil society,” he added.
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