Solved case · 2020
The short answer
In late May and early June 2020, two ambush-style attacks in California—one outside a federal courthouse in Oakland and one at a deputy's home in Ben Lomond—left a federal security officer and a sheriff's sergeant dead. Investigators tied the attacks to the boogaloo movement, which sought to exploit George Floyd protests as cover.
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Suggest coverage for 2020 Boogaloo MurdersIn late May and early June 2020, two linked ambush-style attacks against security personnel and law enforcement officers occurred in California, killing two people and injuring three others. Federal authorities said the attacks were carried out to advance the ideology of the boogaloo movement, a loosely organized far-right anti-government movement whose adherents describe preparing for a second American civil war.
The first attack occurred on May 29, 2020, when an assailant fired a rifle from a white van outside the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland, California, striking two Triple Canopy security officers contracted with the Federal Protective Service. One of them, David Patrick Underwood, was killed; the other was seriously injured. The shooting took place near ongoing George Floyd protests but was not connected to them. Surveillance video showed the van had no license plates and had been in the area for over half an hour before the shooting.
On June 6, 2020, Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department deputies went to a residence in Ben Lomond, California, where they were fired upon with an AR-15-style rifle and attacked with improvised explosive devices. Sheriff Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller was killed, and another deputy was seriously injured. Two responding California Highway Patrol officers were also fired upon, wounding one. The shooter, later identified as Steven Carrillo, was hit during the exchange, fled on foot, and hijacked a vehicle, on which he wrote phrases in his own blood referencing the boogaloo movement, including "boog," "I became unreasonable," and "stop the duopoly." He was later apprehended after being restrained by civilians during an attempted second carjacking.
Carrillo, a 32-year-old U.S. Air Force staff sergeant stationed at Travis Air Force Base, was arrested in connection with the Ben Lomond attack. Evidence recovered from an abandoned van connected to the Oakland shooting, including a ballistic vest bearing boogaloo symbolism, led investigators to Carrillo. The FBI stated that Carrillo and a second man, Robert Alvin Justus Jr., had used the Oakland protests as cover to target law enforcement and had no intention of participating in the demonstrations. Justus surrendered to authorities five days after Carrillo's arrest.
Carrillo was charged with 19 felonies, including murder and attempted murder, with lying-in-wait enhancements. In February 2022, he pleaded guilty to killing Underwood and the attempted murder of the second security officer, and was sentenced to 41 years in prison for the Oakland attack in June 2022. On June 28, 2022, he pleaded guilty to the murder of Gutzwiller and was sentenced on August 26, 2022, to life in prison without parole. Justus was charged with aiding and abetting murder and aiding and abetting attempted murder, pleaded not guilty, and was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison on March 15, 2024.
The case drew public attention after several conservative commentators and public figures, including then-Vice President Mike Pence, made statements linking Underwood's death to the George Floyd protests, which Oakland officials and media watchdog groups characterized as inaccurate.
Drive-by shooting outside the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland, California, kills security officer David Patrick Underwood and seriously injures a second officer.
Investigators state they believe the attackers were targeting uniformed officers; evidence from an abandoned van leads to Steven Carrillo's home in Ben Lomond.
Santa Cruz County sheriff's deputies are ambushed with gunfire and improvised explosive devices at Carrillo's Ben Lomond residence; Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller is killed and another deputy seriously injured. Carrillo is later arrested.
Robert Alvin Justus Jr. surrenders to authorities at a federal building in San Francisco.
FBI announces Carrillo's association with the boogaloo movement and states the Oakland attack used the protests as cover.
Carrillo pleads not guilty to the murder charge related to the Ben Lomond attack; wears a face mask with political messaging during arraignment.
U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota announces federal charges against another boogaloo adherent alleged to have communicated with Carrillo before the Oakland shooting.
Carrillo pleads guilty to killing Underwood and to the attempted murder of the second security officer.
Carrillo is sentenced to 41 years in prison for the Oakland drive-by shooting.
Carrillo pleads guilty to the murder of Damon Gutzwiller.
Carrillo is sentenced to life in prison without parole for Gutzwiller's murder.
Robert Justus is sentenced to life in prison.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Sergeant, killed during the June 6, 2020 Ben Lomond attack.[3]
Security officer contracted with the Federal Protective Service, killed in the May 29, 2020 Oakland shooting.[3]
Charged with aiding and abetting murder and attempted murder in the Oakland shooting; convicted and sentenced to life in prison in March 2024.[3]
U.S. Air Force staff sergeant convicted and sentenced to 41 years for the Oakland attack and to life without parole for the murder of Sergeant Gutzwiller.[3]
From the record
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Image recordCC BY-SA 4.0SourceUNSOLVEDListenWest Oakland, Oakland, California, United States · 1950s
In 1951, six-year-old Luis Albino was abducted from a park in Oakland, California, by an unknown woman; he was found alive and living on the U.S. East Coast in 2024 after 73 years, and the case of who kidnapped him remains unsolved.
Image recordEditorial useSourceSOLVEDListenDowntown Oakland, California · 2000s
Oakland Post editor-in-chief Chauncey Bailey was shot to death on a downtown Oakland street on August 2, 2007, while investigating the finances of Your Black Muslim Bakery. Bakery employee Devaughndre Broussard confessed as the triggerman, and in 2011 bakery owner Yusuf Bey IV and associate Antoine Mackey were convicted of ordering and participating in the murder.
Fruitvale BART Station, Oakland, California · 2000s
Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle at Oakland's Fruitvale Station in the early hours of January 1, 2009. Mehserle was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years.
SOLVEDListenLeongatha, Victoria, Australia · 2023
Erin Patterson murdered three relatives and seriously injured a fourth by serving beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms at a family lunch in Leongatha, Victoria, in July 2023. She was convicted on all charges in July 2025 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Credit: National Center for Missing and Exploited ChildrenEditorial useSourceOVERTURNEDListenColorado Springs, Colorado · 2020
Gannon Stauch, an 11-year-old boy from Colorado Springs, was reported missing on January 27, 2020, and later found to have been murdered by his stepmother, Letecia Stauch (also known as Letecia Hardin), who was convicted in 2023 and sentenced to life without parole; her conviction was overturned on appeal in April 2026.
Satilla Shores, near Brunswick, Glynn County, Georgia · 2020
On February 23, 2020, 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was chased by three white men in trucks while jogging in the Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia, and was fatally shot by Travis McMichael after a struggle. No arrests were made for over two months until a video of the killing went viral, after which Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William "Roddie" Bryan were charged, tried, and convicted of murder and other crimes in state court, and later convicted of federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges.
