Feds say militia members tried to thwart killing probe
Four members of a California militia group associated with the anti-government “boogaloo” movement were indicted Friday on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice in connection with a scheme to destroy records related to last year’s killing in Oakland of a federal Protective Services officer and the wounding of his partner, the U.S. Justice Departmentsaid.
The men are accused of conspiring to destroy communications and other records about the May 29, 2020, killing of federal security officer David Patrick Underwood and attempted murder of his partner as they guarded the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland.
The officers were shot while a large demonstration over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was underway nearby. Prosecutors said Air Force Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo, 32, fatally shot Underwood and wounded his partner. They said Carrillo used the protest as cover for the crime and for his escape. Carrillo has pleaded not guilty.
Days later, Carrillo, who had ties to the “boogaloo” movement, ambushed and killed a California sheriff’s deputy and injured four other officers in Santa Cruz County, authorities said. Carrillo is awaiting trail on murder and attempted murder charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
The men indicted Friday are Jessie Alexander Rush, 29, of Turlock, California; Robert Jesus Blancas, 33, a transient resident of the Bay Area; Simon Sage Ybarra, 23, of Los Gatos, California; and Kenny Matthew Miksch, 21, of San Lorenzo, California.
The indictment alleges that Rush, Blancas, Ybarra and Miksch, along with Carrillo, were members of the Grizzly Scouts, a militia group based in Northern California that connected via a Facebook group and periodically met in person for firearms training, federal prosecutors said.
Boogaloo adherents are part of a loose, anti-government, pro-gun extremist movement. The name is a reference to a slang term for a sequel — in this case, a second U.S. civil war.