Man Pleads Guilty To Bay Area Fire Bombings

BERKELEY, CA — An East Bay man pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal arson charges related to a series of firebombings in Oakland and Berkeley last summer, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Casey Goonan, 34, of Oakland and Pleasant Hill, arrived at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland on June 11, 2024 carrying a bag of Molotov cocktails, prosecutors said. Goonan wanted to throw the explosive devices into the building, so he threw rocks at it, hoping to break a window.

His plan was thwarted by the arrival of officers, but he placed the explosives in a planter at the side of the building and lit them on fire.

Goonan also admitted to putting a bag of Molotov cocktails underneath a fuel tank of a University of California, Berkeley Police Department cruiser on June 1, 2024. He lit the bag on fire and fled as the car ignited, according to prosecutors.

In addition to these two attacks, Goonan also admitted to setting other fires on the UC Berkeley campus on June 1, June 13, and June 16, 2024.

Goonan said he carried out these attacks to "influence and affect the conduct of governments by intimidation and coercion and to retaliate against the governments of the United States and the State of California for their conduct," the DOJ said.

Goonan pleaded guilty to one count of maliciously damaging or destroying property by means of fire or an explosive with a terrorism enhancement.

Goonan, who has been in custody since being arrested, is scheduled to be sentenced on April 8, 2025, and is facing up to 20 years in federal prison.

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