An East Bay man convicted of firebombings that targeting the University of California, Berkeley and the Oakland federal building last year in support of Palestine was sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Casey Robert Goonan, 35, pleaded guilty in January to maliciously damaging or destroying property used in or affecting interstate commerce by means of fire or an explosive.
Goonan placed a bag containing six Molotov cocktails underneath the fuel tank of a UC Berkeley Police Department vehicle parked near campus on June 1, 2024. He lit the bag on fire and fled, causing the patrol car to ignite.
Goonan also tried to firebomb the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in downtown Oakland on June 11, 2024. In that crime, he brought a bag containing three Molotov cocktails to the site, then threw rocks at a window in an attempt to break that glass so that he could toss the firebombs inside. His plan was foiled by security guards, but before he took off, Goonan put the Molotov cocktails in a planter on the side of the building and lit them on fire, prosecutors said.
In addition to these two attacks, Goonan also set other fires on the UC Berkeley campus on June 1, June 13, and June 16, 2024.
According to prosecutors, “Goonan acknowledged that these attacks were inspired by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and that he called on others to attack property on Bay Area college campuses in support of Palestine.”
At sentencing, the court referred to Goonan as a “domestic terrorist” and found that he had committed a felony offense that involved or was intended to promote a federal crime of terrorism.