A man from Oakland, California, who is suspected of being involved with the firebombing of a University of California Police Department (UCPD) car and several other incidents was arrested on Monday.
Officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) revealed that Casey Robert Goonan, 34, had been arrested “in connection with the firebombing attack of a UC Berkeley Police Department vehicle,” along with three other arson-related incidents that have occurred on the University of California Berkeley’s (UCB) campus, according to the Berkeley Scanner.
Goonan is reportedly facing several felony charges, along with “the possession and use of destructive devices and multiple counts of arson,” according to officials.
At the beginning of June, an unknown author published a post to Abolition Media taking responsibility for placing an “incendiary device” underneath a “UC Berkeley police vehicle.”
“The device was lit underneath the back left wheel of a police SUV, placed between the tire and underside of fuel tank,” the anonymous author wrote, adding that this “act was done in retaliation against UCPD.”
The author added that the act had also been conducted “in solidarity with the students attacked by the fascist police state at uc santa cruz” and “in solidarity with the students attacks by zionist street collaborators at uc los angeles.”
Another anonymous user, going by the name “student intifada,” wrote a note on the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center website on June 13, claiming responsibility for firebombing “the side of a build” on UCB’s campus. The building that was firebombed was Koshland Hall.
“Not sure what building it even was,” the anonymous author wrote. “Honestly don’t really care. Every single building on the UC Berkeley campus deserves to be incinerated following the UC system’s treatment of student protesters. Last night they attacked a young woman student who was speaking her mind on a megaphone. So we unloaded a firebomb on the side of a campus building. The flame was big and spread across the trees and bushes on the side of a building.”
The outlet noted that on June 16, another post was written on the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center website stating that a “supply building” had been looted, and that arson had occurred at a “construction site,” among other things.
On Sunday, another anonymous statement on Indybay said there had been additional incidents as well, including the “successful looting of a u.c.b supply building of thousands of dollars,” the “experimental burning of dry grass hills on the interiors of campus,” and an arson at a construction site, “mostly construction materials, wood pallets, and massive dry bush area.”
The UCPD Berkeley wrote in a post on X on Sunday that a fire had been “reported at the Dwinelle Annex Construction Site.”
Goonan is reportedly currently in police custody at Santa Rita Jail, and his bail has been set at $1 million, according to the outlet. Records reportedly show that Goonan is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.
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