Second deadly ambush charge
Alleged killer of Santa Cruz County deputy charged with federal officer’s killing in Oakland
OAKLAND » Steven Carrillo, the U.S. Air Force sergeant who allegedly murdered a Santa Cruz County deputy earlier this month, has been charged with a second deadly ambush of federal officers a week earlier — alongside a second man who allegedly drove the driveby shooting van — in attacks that authorities say were driven by Carrillo’s extremist, antilaw enforcement views and ties to a movement that believes a second American civil war is coming soon.
Prosecutors with the Northern District U.S. Attorney’s office announced the charges Tuesday at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building, just yards away from where Carrillo is accused of assassinating Federal Protective Services Officer David Patrick Underwood and injuring his partner on the night of May 29, after firing on them from a white van in what authorities described as “an ambush.”
Carrillo, 32, faces murder and attempted murder charges, while Millbrae resident Robert A. Justus Jr., 30, the suspected driver of the van, faces charges of attempted murder and aiding and abetting murder. The charges mean that Carrillo — an active Air Force sergeant at the time of the shooting — is facing simultaneous state and federal death penalty charges, including 19 felonies related to the alleged murder of Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputy Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller in Ben Lomond on June 6.
In announcing the charges, authorities alleged that both Carrillo and Justus had ties to the extremist anti-government “boogaloo” movement, whose self-described libertarian, tropical-shirt-wearing adherents anticipate a second civil war. The criminal complaint states that Justus and Carrillo met on Facebook and plotted the Oakland attack in chats with other boogaloo followers there.
After Carrillo’s June 6 arrest in Ben Lomond, police recovered a patch with Hawaiian print and an image of an igloo — common boogaloo symbols — on a bulletproof vest in the van used in the Oakland shooting and the messages “Boog” and “I became unreasonable” scrawled in blood on the hood of a car
Carrillo stole.
The Oakland ambush occurred near the intersection of 12th and Jefferson streets, as two guards, including Underwood, patrolled the building while protests against the police killing of George Floyd unfolded blocks away near City Hall. At about 9:45 p.m., a van pulled up to the building, and Justus got out and conducted “surveillance” on foot, authorities said, while Carrillo waited inside the vehicle. What followed was essentially a drive-by shooting, with Carrillo opening the sliding van door and firing on the officers before speeding away, according to the FBI.
The duo purposefully chose the night of massive protests to gain cover for the attacks and to take advantage of widespread grief over Floyd’s killing, said Jack Bennett, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco Division.
“There is no evidence that these men had any intention to join the demonstration in Oakland,” Bennett said. “They came to Oakland to kill cops.”
The complaint points to Carrillo’s Facebook posts, in which he voiced support for violence against law enforcement and made references to the boogaloo movement, as evidence of his motivation. Former friend Justin Ehrhardt told this news organization that Carrillo’s Facebook page was rife with memes related to the ideology.
“Go to the riots and support our own cause. Show them the real targets,” Carrillo allegedly wrote in one post. “Use their anger to fuel our fire. Think outside the box. We have mobs of angry people to use to our advantage.”
In an exchange between Carrillo and Justus — posted to an unspecified Facebook group the morning before the Oakland attack — Carrillo allegedly commented, “It’s on our coast now, this needs to be nationwide. It’s a great opportunity to target the specialty group soup bois.” The term “soup bois” is commonly used by boogaloo followers to refer to federal agents.
“Let’s boogie,” Justus allegedly responded.
Justus, who had been under FBI surveillance after being identified as an associate of Carrillo’s, unexpectedly turned himself in at the federal building in San Francisco on June 11 and confessed to his involvement in the attack. According to the complaint, he claimed he didn’t want to join Carrillo in the shooting but felt “trapped” after they met up and tried to talk him out of the plan.
Eight days later Carrillo struck again, authorities said, when he lobbed pipe bombs and opened fire with assault weapons on law enforcement officers outside his home on Waldeberg Road in Ben Lomond, killing Gutzwiller and injuring two other Santa Cruz deputies. Federal authorities said Tuesday that a gun used in that attack — an assault rifle equipped with a silencer that did not have serial numbers — was also used in the May 29 shooting.
Carrillo is being held in Monterey County jail and has not yet appeared in federal court. Justus made his first appearance in court Monday, federal prosecutors said.