A federal grand jury has indicted an East Bay college student for throwing a firebomb at a University of California, Berkeley police patrol vehicle earlier this summer, federal officials said.
On June 1, at approximately 5 a.m., Casey Goonan, 34, of Oakland and Pleasant Hill, walked onto the University of California, Berkeley, campus with a shopping bag containing six Molotov cocktails, threw them under a police vehicle and set them on fire, according to the indictment. The charges were announced Friday in a news release from Ismail J. Ramsey, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California.
The car caught fire, authorities said. It did not explode, but its rear seats, fuel tank and trunk were severely damaged, making it a total loss. No one was injured.
Goonan, who the Daily Northwestern reports earned a doctorate in African American studies from Northwestern University in 2022, was charged with two counts of malicious damage or destruction of property by means of fire or explosive and one count of possession of an unregistered firearm. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Goonan was arrested on June 17 in connection with four arson attacks on the UC Berkeley campus that month, including the firebombing of a vehicle.
His attorney, Jeff Wozniak, told KQED that Goonan would contest the charges and said the case had been politicized because of the defendant’s involvement in anti-war protests.
Pro-Palestinian activists have claimed responsibility online for several recent fires on campus. Another arson attack was reported earlier this month.
Goonan is due in court on September 17.
