Law enforcement officers at the Santa Maria courthouse in California in September 2024. Photograph: APView image in fullscreenLaw enforcement officers at the Santa Maria courthouse in California in September 2024. Photograph: APMan admits to bombing California courthouse in retaliation for seized gunsNathaniel James McGuire faces maximum sentence of life in prison after guilty plea over September 2024 bombing
A California man has pleaded guilty to charges that he detonated a bomb at a Santa Maria courthouse in 2024 in retaliation for law enforcement officers seizing his firearms earlier that year.
In September 2024, Nathaniel James McGuire, 22, of Santa Barbara county threw a backpack containing an explosive device into the courthouse before exiting the building to retrieve two long guns and 10 molotov cocktails from his car.
Law enforcement officers apprehended McGuire before he could re-enter the building, but the detonation injured three people and caused $35,000 in damages to the courthouse. According to McGuire’s plea agreement, the attack was intended to kill sheriff’s deputies and a judge. He has been in federal custody since the attack.
On Monday, McGuire pleaded guilty to one count of use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of malicious destruction of a building using an explosive.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for 1 March. McGuire faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
“McGuire launched a vicious, terroristic assault on a court of law with the intent to kill law enforcement officers and a judge,” assistant attorney general for national security John A Eisenberg said in a justice department press release.
“Individuals who use bombs against law enforcement officials, judges, and other government personnel must be held accountable and face severe punishment for their actions,” first assistant US attorney Bill Essayli for the central district of California said in a statement.
At the time of the incident, the National Center for State Courts, a non-profit representing the justice system in the United States, reported that federal judges, prosecutors and court officials faced more than 4,500 threats in 2021, a 400% increase since 2015.
