Staff Reports
A Texas man was charged federally on April 13 with attempted damage and destruction of property by means of explosives and possession of an unregistered firearm after he threw a Molotov cocktail at a San Francisco residence and attempted to set a related business on fire on April 10.
According to the federal criminal complaint filed on April 13, Daniel Moreno-Gama, 20, of Spring, Texas, is alleged to have traveled to San Francisco from Texas in order to kill the CEO of a major Artificial Intelligence company. Moreno-Gama allegedly approached the residences of the CEO, threw a Molotov cocktail, and then fled the premises.
“Violence cannot be the norm for expressing disagreement, be it with politics or a technology or any other matter,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press release. “These alleged actions – which damaged property and could well have taken lives – will be aggressively prosecuted.”
After throwing a Molotov cocktail at the CEO’s residences, Moreno-Gama allegedly went to the headquarters of the CEO’s A.I. company. Moreno-Gama reportedly attempted to break the glass doors of the building with a chair and stated that he had come to burn down the location and kill anyone inside.
The complaint describes that when San Francisco Police Department officers arrived on scene, they found Moreno-Gama in possession of incendiary devices, a jug of kerosene, a blue lighter, and a document. The first part of the document, entitled “Your Last Warning” by Daniel Moreno-Gama, advocated against A.I. and for the killing and commission of other crimes against CEOs of A.I. companies and their investors, listing names and addresses that purported to belong to multiple CEOs and investors. In the document, Moreno-Gama reportedly admitted to attempting to kill the victim and requested others to join his movement.
Moreno-Gama ended the document with a letter addressed to the victim, writing “If by some miracle you live, then I would take this as a sign from the divine to redeem yourself…”
Law enforcement later learned that on the same day he committed these attacks, Moreno-Gama also emailed a version of the document to representatives at his former college back in Texas.
“We will not tolerate any attempt to change the way Americans live and work through fear or violence,” U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said. “We are only at the beginning of this investigation, but if the evidence shows that Mr. Moreno-Gama executed these attacks to change public policy or to coerce government and other officials, we will treat this as an act of domestic terrorism and together with our law enforcement partners prosecute him to the fullest extent allowed by law.”
“The charges announced today reflect a deeply concerning escalation from intent to action targeting a private residence and a technology company with violence,” FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo said. “The FBI will not tolerate threats against our nation’s innovation leaders or the companies that drive our economy forward. Acts of destruction aimed at the tech sector will be met with the full force of law enforcement.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexis James is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by FBI and SFPD.
