Former Air Force sergeant pleads guilty in shooting of Oakland federal officer
OAKLAND, Calif. - A former U.S. Air Force staff sergeant pleaded guilty Friday in the shooting death of a Federal Protective Service officer and wounding of a second security officer in Oakland in 2020.
Steven Carrillo, 33, entered the guilty plea in federal court in San Francisco for the murder of David Patrick Underwood and attempted murder of the second officer outside of a courthouse as a large protest was happening in downtown Oakland on May 29, 2020.
The shooting led to a manhunt that ended eight days later when authorities went to Carrillo's home in Ben Lomond in Santa Cruz County where he allegedly shot and killed county sheriff's Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller and injured a second deputy.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Carrillo, who was an active-duty Air Force member assigned to Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield at the time, killed Underwood as part of the "boogaloo" movement that seeks to incite "a violent uprising against perceived government tyranny."
Carrillo's plea was part of an agreement with federal prosecutors that U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said she may not accept. If she decides not to accept the agreement, Carrillo can withdraw his guilty plea and will face a trial.
Under the plea agreement, Carrillo faces 41 years in prison for the killing of Underwood and wounding the second officer in Oakland. He initially pleaded not guilty.
"He's a domestic terrorist," Underwood's sister Angela Underwood Jacobs told reporters outside the courthouse following the hearing. She traveled to San Francisco from Southern California for the hearing.
Underwood Jacobs added that Carrillo should be held to a higher standard because he was in the military.
She said she hopes Carrillo gets the maximum sentence allowed and for his sentences run consecutively.
Before Carrillo pleaded guilty, Underwood Jacobs addressed the court and said she is a "heartbroken sister."
"I believe my brother should be alive today," she said.
She said of Carrillo, "Your soul must be dark and empty."
"Did your country fail you?" she asked Carrillo. "No, you failed your country."
"Cowards like you fear true bravery," Underwood Jacobs said.
"I agree that I am guilty," Carrillo told the judge, later adding that he intended to kill Underwood.
"I went there (to the protest in Oakland) with the intention to harm law enforcement," Carrillo said. Carrillo fired 19 rounds at about 9:45 p.m. that day, killing Underwood and wounding the other officer. Carrillo told Gonzalez Rogers that the highest level of education he earned was an associate degree in criminal justice.
Carrillo's sentencing has been set for June 3 at the federal courthouse in San Francisco. If Gonzalez Rogers accepts the agreement, Carrillo will have very limited rights to appeal.
Gonzalez Rogers cannot change the plea agreement. She can only accept or reject it, she said.