Feds take over UC Berkeley arson suspect Casey Goonan's case
Federal prosecutors are taking over the case against the University of California, Berkeley, arson suspect Casey Goonan.
Federal prosecutors are taking over the case against the University of California, Berkeley, arson suspect Casey Goonan.
Cal Fire announced on June 17 that Casey Robert Goonan was arrested in connection with three arson attacks and the firebombing of a UC Berkeley Police Department vehicle in June.
Goonan was initially charged with felony counts of possession and the use of destructive devices and multiple counts of arson.
His bond was set at $1 million but dropped to $450,000 by a judge in June.
The Alameda County District Attorney said Wednesday that federal prosecutors are taking over the case, according to the San Francisco Standard.
It’s unknown what charges federal prosecutors will bring against Goonan, but his lawyer, Jeff Wozniak told the outlet: “Mr. Goonan intends to enter a not guilty plea to the federal charges and fight these allegations.”
34-year-old Goonan previously received a doctorate of African American studies from Northwestern University.
On June 16, a post by the name “Marilyn’s Daughters” on Indybay.org said that they set fire to a construction site at UC Berkeley, writing that it was the second phase of the “#Escalate movement.”
”phase two of the #Escalate movement heats up at u.c. berkeley with a construction site set on fire in broad daylight. this was done in retaliation for u.c.pd’s violent assaults on vulnerable student demonstrators and to punish the university of kkkalifornia system for supporting the genocidal zionist-Israel entity,” the group wrote. “this was an autonomous initiative in concert with the current WEEK OF ACTION currently underway: operation campus flood.”
The University of California, Berkeley Police Department wrote that a fire was reported at the Dwinelle Annex Construction Site, and an investigation determined it was arson.
One day after a “firebomb” was thrown at a UC Berkeley building that’s named after a Jewish professor on Thursday, another post was made, calling for “a week of autonomous action,” calling it “Operation Campus Flood,” which lasts from June 14 to June 19.
On June 1, an anonymous group claimed responsibility for burning the police vehicle on Saturday with an incendiary device that was placed below the cruiser.
Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor for the Office of Communications and Public Affairs at UC Berkeley, told Campus Reform at the time that the university is “aware of the social media posts and this is being taken very, very seriously.”
