San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Authorities seeking van possibly tied to attack
Federal law enforcement authorities are searching for a white van that they believe was involved in the Friday night shooting death of a man working as a security guard for the Federal Protective Service, The Chronicle has learned. Another federal officer was wounded in the shooting.
The van — caught on surveillance footage — pulled up outside the Ronald V. Dellums federal building on Clay Street in Oakland at about 9:45 p.m. Friday.
Witnesses told federal investigators that a passenger swung open the sliding door of the van, opening fire on the security guards, according to a federal wanted poster exclu
sively obtained by The Chronicle from a law enforcement source. Department of Homeland Security officials Saturday termed the killing “an act of domestic terrorism.”
The FBI’s San Francisco office, which is working on the case, said Saturday that it is too early to determine a motive, including whether it was domestic terrorism.
The internal document said the van fled northbound on Jefferson Street. It indicated that the officer wounded in the shooting was in stable condition.
Oakland police and the FBI are working together to search for the attacker.
In a briefing with reporters on Saturday, Ken Cuccinelli, deputy secretary of Homeland Security, suggested the attack was possibly part of a pattern and that the department is aware of threats against other police stations and federal buildings.
“Let me be clear,” Cuccinelli said. “When someone targets a police officer or a police station with an intention to do harm and intimidate, that is an act of domestic terrorism.”
Chad Wolf, acting secretary of Homeland Security, described what he called escalating aggression against police officers and other law enforcement authorities during protests spurred by the death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man, at the hands of police on Monday.
“As of late, we have witnessed an outright assault on our law enforcement community,” Wolf said at the briefing. He suggested that a number of groups may be “taking advantage of a peaceful protest” to plot and carry out attacks on law enforce
“When someone targets a police officer or a police station ... that is an act of domestic terrorism.”
Ken Cuccinelli, deputy secretary of Homeland Security
ment.
The federal building in Oakland was in the area of violent protests Friday night. FBI officials did not immediately say whether the shooting and protests are related. At a press conference Saturday, Oakland interim police chief Susan Manheimer said it was “likely there was a targeting of uniformed officers,” but the extent to which the shooting was linked to the protests is not yet determined.
Wolf characterized the shooter as an “assassin” who “cowardly shot two Federal Protective Service contractors as they stood watch over a protest.”
It was not the only assault on a federal law enforcement officer Friday he said, describing other instances in which he said people threw rocks, urine and alcohol on Secret Service officers.
Wolf didn’t say where these incidents occurred, but said they happened during demonstrations. He said that many perpetrators were “hiding behind their First Amendment right of lawful protest.”
He also cited an incident earlier in the week in which someone threw a Molotov cocktail at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
“While these incidents are under investigation, the Department of Homeland Security will not rest until these criminals are brought to justice,” he said.
In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the shooting a “moment of pain” and added that “No one should rush to conflate this heinous act with the protests last night.”