The man accused of killing a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy and trying to kill three other law enforcement officials and a civilian on June 6 made his first court appearance Friday, but put off entering a plea until July 17.
Steven Carrillo—who’s accused in the fatal shooting of Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller—faces 19 felony counts, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and using explosives in an attempt to commit murder. Because Carrillo also faces special allegations of lying in wait and committing capital murder, he could face the death penalty, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Paul Burdick said.
Santa Cruz DA Jeff Rosell did not say whether he plans to pursue death in the case.
“We are considering all options,” he said. “We will carefully consider the individual facts and circumstances of this case, the facts and circumstances of any other case, as well as this defendant’s background.”
The FBI has said it is looking into connections between Carrillo’s arrest in Santa Cruz and the killing on May 29 of a federal officer in Oakland.
Before his arrest, Carrillo reportedly used blood to write messages such as “Boog,” “Stop the Duopoly,” and “I became unreasonable,” all of which are associated with the newly spawned Boogaloo Bois, a group of violent right-wing extremists that claim they want to start a civil war and say they are opposed to both police and the government.
Rosell did not comment on whether Carrillo is a member of that group, saying the case is still being investigated. He referred questions about the Oakland shooting to the FBI, which has declined to comment. “This is an active, ongoing investigation that we are going to be looking into his connections if any to other groups, and we are going to be looking into his background like we would with any case,” Rosell said.
Carrillo made his appearance via video conference from the Monterey County Jail, where he is being held without bail.
The events leading up to thee killing began when Gutzwiller and another deputy responded to a call at about 1:30pm of a suspicious van with guns and bomb-making materials parked on the road about five miles north of Boulder Creek.
Responding deputies found the van at a home on Waldeburg Road in Ben Lomond.
Carrillo allegedly used an AR-15 rifle to shoot Gutzwiller when he and the deputy went to contact the driver. The second deputy was injured.
Carrillo then ambushed two California Highway Patrol officers who responded to the scene, and was shot during the ensuing gun battle, Rosell said. Law enforcement officials were also injured when Carrillo allegedly threw explosive devices at them, police said.
Later, Carrillo tried to ignite a pipe bomb and draw a pistol when a resident tackled Carrillo and held him for police. “He attempted to murder four other policemen, and he attempted to murder a civilian. So we charged him with everything it was appropriate to charge him with,” Rosell said.
Carrillo was an active-duty sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, stationed at the 60th Security Forces Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, Public Affairs Officer 2nd Lt. Mike Longoria said. He joined in 2018. Carrillo’s attorney Jeffrey Stotter said that his client has suffered “personal loss, family loss” in the last several years, possibly referring to his wife, who died in 2018 while serving in the U.S. Air Force in South Carolina.
Stotter also said that Carrillo suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2009, but said it did not happen in connection to his military service.
“I am not aware of what impact these things may have on the case,” Stotter said. “I’m simply pointing out that there are more colors to Mr. Carrillo, and what his possible motivation and what his involvement is, beyond what you may hear simply form the complaint and the worst case scenario allegations. He is a human being also.”
> Before his arrest, Carrillo reportedly used blood to write messages such as “Boog,” “Stop the Duopoly,” and “I became unreasonable,” all of which are associated with the newly spawned Boogaloo Bois, a group of violent right-wing extremists that claim they want to start a civil war and say they are opposed to both police and the government.
“reportedly”?
“Reportedly” is a source?
You’re kidding.
“I pulled it out of a bodily orifice” is also a source.
What a coincidence.
“the newly spawned Boogaloo Bois, a group of violent right-wing extremists that claim they want to start a civil war and say they are opposed to both police and the government.” this sounds identical to the hate speech coming from Antifa – – – the nuts have gone so far around the bend in opposite directions that they have met up – –
Why is he being held in the Monterey County Jail.
So the Santa Cruz sheriffs don’t kill him, like the 21-year-old who died in jail last month.
Too bad. It would save the time and expense of a trial.
> Before his arrest, Carrillo reportedly used blood to write messages such as “Boog,” “Stop the Duopoly,” and “I became unreasonable,” all of which are associated with the newly spawned Boogaloo Bois, a group of violent right-wing extremists that claim they want to start a civil war and say they are opposed to both police and the government.
> Rosell did not comment on whether Carrillo is a member of that group, saying the case is still being investigated. He referred questions about the Oakland shooting to the FBI, which has declined to comment.
Jennifer:
Where did San Jose Inside find Todd Guild?
This is the worst example of factless “journalistic” innuendo and speculation I’ve seen in a long time. I think he wants to say “Carrillo looks like a white guy so he’s probably a white supremacist, just like all the other white guys.”
Wherever you found Todd, take him back and dump him.
The connection to Boogaloo Bois comes from multiple Facebook posts that Carrillo made prior to the shooting. If you Google his name, there are articles that include quotes from friends of his he served with who reference the Boogaloo-oriented posts. There are also screenshots of posts he made to pages that had a lot of Boogaloo-related posts. Re. the message on the car, there is a photo circulating among local folks that shows the messages, and I don’t know where the photo originally came from. I suspect reporters have seen that but also might not have been able to confirm the original source. Here’s a site that has been collecting some of what’s circulating:
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/06/06/18833874.php
This is a “Possible Link to Violent Right-Wing Group ‘Boogaloo Bois’”?
This is journalistic malpractice.
“Malpractice” is you lacking any evidence to refute it, fact is this was done by a right wing killer. Boogaloo or not, this wasn’t a leftist as so many tried claiming weeks ago.
It’s all part of the official court documents now. Here’s the report of relevant evidence law enforcement referred to in their court proceedings this week.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-17/far-right-boogaloo-boys-linked-to-killing-of-california-lawmen-other-violence
His Facebook posts seem to have been taken down since the shooting, but there are screenshots of them circulating, and friends of his have confirmed to reporters that he was sharing information that was strongly anti-government, anti-police and some information related to the Boogaloo movement. At least one of the pages in a screenshot of a post of his had a lot of really horrible Boogaloo-related posts; I saw them for several days after the shooting, and then the page disappeared. Apparently that’s a common tactic the Boogaloo folks use – change names of their pages periodically to avoid detection.
Here’s a page where someone has been sharing information they are collecting on the story. I haven’t ready any account that confirms the source of the photo of the car, but it’s been circulating in local neighborhood groups in the area. I imagine that information, if it’s an accurate photo, will come out over time if and when law enforcement chooses to share that information: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/06/06/18833874.php
Here’s a link to an article in which a friend of his confirmed the type of information he’d been sharing online: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/12/i-became-unreasonable-bloody-message-scrawled-on-car-at-ben-lomond-ambush/
Here’s an article about how the Boogaloo movement uses Facebook and changes the names of their pages to avoid detection: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/06/871404652/facebook-becomes-key-place-for-extremist-boogaloo-movement-organizers