California man faces federal charge in courthouse bomb explosion

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal authorities have charged a California man in a courthouse bomb attack that injured five people.

Nathaniel McGuire, 20, has been charged with maliciously damaging a building with an explosive, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles said in a statement. He is expected to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday.

It was not immediately known whether McGuire had an attorney.

The charge came a day after McGuire was arrested at a courthouse in the city of Santa Maria where he was about to be arraigned on a gun charge when an explosion damaged the building and injured five people.

Federal authorities said McGuire threw a bag into the courthouse lobby that exploded and he left the building on foot. He was arrested as he was trying to get into his car, which was parked nearby, and “yelled that the government had taken his guns and that everyone needed to fight, rise up, and rebel,” the statement said.

Authorities said they later found ammunition, a rifle, a suspected bomb, fireworks and 10 Molotov cocktails inside the car and other materials used in making explosives during a search of McGuire’s home.

In a court filing, federal authorities said McGuire told law enforcement after his arrest that he had gone to the courthouse planning to kill deputies working at the security desk and after throwing the bag yelled “Liberty or Death.” Authorities said he told them he planned to go back to the car to get weapons and reenter the courthouse to kill a judge.

“The idea of intentionally setting off an explosive device to do harm and avoid justice in the process shocks the conscience,” Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s field office in Los Angeles, said in the statement.

McGuire had been arrested last July on suspicion of illegal gun possession and was to be arraigned at the courthouse.

County authorities evacuated a five-block radius of businesses, homes and a school after the explosion in the city, which is home to about 110,000 people in the central coast region. The courthouse was closed and will reopen on Monday.