Former Air Force sergeant sentenced to 41 years for fatal drive-by shooting at courthouse

Christian Martinez
·1 min read
FILE - This Sunday, June 7, 2020, booking photo from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office shows 32-year-old suspect Steven Carrillo. The Air Force sergeant already jailed in the ambush killing of a California sheriff's deputy was charged Tuesday, June 16, 2020 in the shooting death of a federal security officer outside the U.S. courthouse in Oakland during a night of violent protest last month. Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo was charged with murder and attempted murder in the killing of federal officer Dave Patrick Underwood, 53. He died from gunshot wounds and another federal officer was critically injured in the drive-by shooting outside the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building on May 29. (Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
Steven Carrillo, a former Air Force staff sergeant, pleaded guilty to federal murder and attempted murder charges related to a drive-by shooting in Oakland in 2020. (Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office)

A former Air Force staff sergeant and alleged member of an alt-right anti-government movement was sentenced to 41 years in prison for a fatal drive-by shooting outside a federal courthouse in Oakland in 2020.

Steven Carrillo, 34, pleaded guilty to federal murder and attempted murder charges. He previously had pleaded not guilty to the charges but changed his plea after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

In his plea agreement, Carrillo said he aligned himself "with the anti-government movement and wanted to carry out violent acts against federal law enforcement officers in particular," prosecutors said in a release.

The charges stem from the May 2020 shooting of two guards at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland amid anti-police brutality protests that arose out of the killing of George Floyd.

Carrillo, an alleged member of the alt-right, extremist "boogaloo" movement, shot at two Protective Services officers with an AR-15 from a van, killing Officer Dave Patrick Underwood and severely injuring another guard.

The alleged driver of the van, Robert Alvin Justus Jr., also faces federal murder and attempted murder charges.

Carrillo was arrested a week after the shooting in Santa Cruz County after allegedly ambushing law enforcement officers, killing Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller and injuring several others, as they investigated a van.

He was charged with murder and attempted murder, in addition to other felonies, by the Santa Cruz County district attorney.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.