US Air Force sergeant charged with murder of security officer in Oakland

SAN FRANCISCO - Steven Carrillo, a US Air Force sergeant serving at Northern California's Travis Base, has been charged with murder and attempted murder of protective security officers in Oakland, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Tuesday.

The DOJ made the announcement at a press conference held at a federal building in the city, where the murder took place, saying that the alleged gunman committed drive-by shooting that resulted in the death of Protective Security Officer David Patrick Underwood and injuries to a second security officer on May 29 at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland.

"Pat Underwood was murdered because he wore a uniform," said US Attorney David Anderson.

"Indiscriminate targeting of law enforcement officers by those motivated by violent extremism of any stripe is contrary to our nation's values and undermines the powerful message of peaceful protestors ... We stand firmly against anyone who seeks to hijack the protests with acts of violence and destruction," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers.

Steven Carrillo, the 32-year-old suspect, serving in a military police unit at Travis Air Force Base, also killed Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputy Damon Gutzwiller and wounded two others in Ben Lomond, Northern California on June 7 before he was wounded and arrested.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation linked these two similar ambush-style shooting death cases as a white van was recorded leaving the scene of Oakland shooting, and the suspect's vehicle at the scene of shooting on June 7 was also a white van.

Carrillo appears to have used his own blood to write various phrases on the hood of the car that he carjacked during his arrest. The phrases relate to an extremist ideology that promotes a violent uprising through use of militias, according to a DOJ statement.