SAN FRANCISCO — Steven Carrillo, the ex-Air Force sergeant who joined an anti-government militia and began plotting murderous attacks against law enforcement, has pleaded guilty to killing a Federal Protective Services Pat Underwood in a May 2020 drive-by shooting.
Carrillo, 33, appeared before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who took the unusual step of requiring Carrillo to read his own plea agreement into the record, essentially forcing him to publicly admit not just murdering Underwood, but aligning with anti-government groups, plotting attacks, and promoting anti-police violence on Facebook. Carrillo was part of the so-called Boogaloo movement, which believes in an impending civil war.
Before pleading guilty to two federal offenses, Carrillo heard from Angela Underwood Jacobs, Pat Underwood’s sister, who called Carrillo a “domestic terrorist” and an affront to the oath he swore to protect the United States.
“Cowards like you fear true bravery,” Underwood Jacobs said as Carrillo watched on in silence. “(Pat Underwood) will live on through his family and friends…You no longer deserve your freedom.”
She described her brother as a compassionate, courageous and “innocent man, and his life was horrifically taken from him…And why, Mr. Carrillo?”
“Our lives will never be the same again,” she said.
Carrillo was arrested a week after Underwood’s murder, in Ben Lomond, after allegedly ambushing and murdering Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller in a shooting that injured three other officers. Police allege he opened fire on the officers, and lobbed pipe bombs at them, using the same gun he used to kill Underwood.
In another rare move for federal court, prosecutors and the defense have already agreed to the sentence Carrillo should face: 41 years. But first they will have to get Gonzalez Rogers to sign on. A former private attorney and Obama appointee, Gonzalez Rogers isn’t exactly known for leniency against convicted criminals, and informed both parties she would need serious convincing at a sentencing hearing tentatively set for June 6.
“I am going to need a sufficient showing to justify this agreement,” Gonzalez Rogers said in court Friday, emphasizing the word “sufficient.” She added that it’s, “not clear I will accept it.”
If Gonzalez Rogers decides not to accept the prison term, it will mean that Carrillo will be re-set for trial, but also that his admissions in court Friday can be used against him.
Standing in a red Santa Rita Jail jumpsuit, with his head barely reaching his attorney’s shoulder, Carrillo read a lengthy statement, admitting to using a homemade AR-15 to fatally shoot Underwood and his partner, firing 19 rounds from a white van that drove by the Ron Dellums Federal Building in downtown Oakland on May 29, 2020.
The alleged driver, Robert Alvin Justus Jr., is still facing federal murder charges. Referring to him only as “Individual One,” Carrillo said he never threatened the driver, though Justus made a statement to the FBI suggesting he participated in the murder because he was under duress.
Carrillo admitted he “actively discussed and encouraged violence against law enforcement” online, that he “aligned myself with an anti-government group,” and that he said things like, “this is a great time to perpetuate the destruction of the government.” In the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, and the ensuing cross-country protests and riots, Carrillo encouraged other Boogaloo followers to use the unrest to encourage violence against police.
The crimes Carrillo pleaded guilty to — use of a firearm in furtherance of a violent offense that resulted in death — carries a potential life sentence, but is a lesser offense than the first degree murder count he originally faced. He also pleaded guilty to attempting to kill Underwood’s partner.
With the Underwood case potentially nearing its end, Carrillo still has to reckon with state murder charges of killing Gutzwiller. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing last year, a possible indication that a plea deal is in the works with Santa Cruz prosecutors as well.
Staff writer Jessica York contributed to this report.
