Travis airman with "Boogaloo" ties sentenced to prison over killing of security guard
(Photo courtesy Frontline/ProPublica, Creative Commons license)
A former Air Force sergeant who admitted to killing a federal security officer two years ago was sentenced to more than four decades in prison on Friday.
The sentence was handed down after Steven Carrillo, 34, entered a guilty plea in connection with the May 2020 drive-by shooting of Patrick Underwood in front of the Ron Dellums Federal Building in Oakland.
The sentence — 41 years in federal prison — was agreed upon by federal prosecutors and Carrillo’s defense attorneys. On Friday, a judge overseeing his case expressed concern that the amount of prison time was not enough considering the serious and violent nature of the crime, but ultimately imposed that exact sentence.
Carrillo could be released from prison earlier than 41 years if he accrues good conduct time, but he won’t be eligible for additional early release credits through the First Step Act program because his conviction includes a firearms-related offense.
Once he is released from prison, prosecutors say Carrillo will face a lifetime of post-release supervision. He could be sent back to prison if he violates the terms of his release at any point.
Carrillo is still facing murder charges in connection with the ambush of Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Sergeant Damn Gutzwiller, who attempted to apprehend the man in Ben Lomond several days after Underwood’s killing. In addition to that murder charge, a judge is expected to impose a restitution order in which Carrillo will have to financially compensate Underwood’s family for his death.
A lengthy investigation by the not-for-profit newsroom ProPublica in partnership with the PBS news program FRONTLINE revealed Carrillo was an active participant in an underground, anti-police movement known as the “Boogaloo Bois.” He reportedly left messages scribbled on the hood of his vehicle and in other places that were inspired by that movement.
Carrillo was stationed at Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield for several years and was trained in hand-to-hand combat while at the military installation, according to reports. It was in the military that he was reportedly exposed to the ideology of the Boogaloo Bois movement, ProPublica and FRONTLINE reported.
The death of Minneapolis man George Floyd at the hands of the local police department there reportedly inspired him to commit the killings in Oakland and Ben Lomond.
“The Boogaloo revolution is against the government,” he said, according to materials obtained by ProPublica and FRONTLINE. “But the police is basically the government’s dog on a leash.”
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