An Air Force sergeant already jailed in the ambush killing of a California sheriff's deputy was charged Tuesday with murdering a federal law enforcement officer outside the U.S. courthouse in Oakland (CA) during a night of violent protests.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, prosecutors have leveled murder and attempted murder charges against Air Force Sergeant Steven Carrillo, who reportedly has ties to the right-wing anti-government "boogaloo" movement, which conspires to incite racial warfare.
Authorities say that the plot to target law enforcement officers was hatched during an online chat among the group's members, who are largely anti-government in philosophy.
Federal Protective Service officer David Patrick Underwood was killed in late May as he and his partner guarded a federal building in Oakland while violent demonstrations took place nearby.
Carrillo and an accomplice reportedly parked a van near the courthouse and Carrillo fired shots at the guard station where Underwood and his partner were located.
David Anderson—U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California—said at a news conference, "Pat Underwood was murdered because he wore a uniform."
Prosecutors also charged an alleged getaway driver—identified as Robert Alvin Justus, Jr.—with aiding and abetting the murder and attempted murder.
