A suspect pled guilty Tuesday in federal court to firebombing a police car in June as part of a pro-Palestinian protest at UC Berkeley.
Casey Goonan, wearing a red Alameda County Jail shirt and red-and-white striped pants, pled guilty to a felony count of arson under a plea agreement with prosecutors.
“I lit the police car on fire,” Goonan told Judge Jeffrey White.
White scheduled Goonan to be sentenced April 8. Goonan faces a prison sentence of five to 20 years, according to federal prosecutors.
Goonan initially pled not guilty to multiple charges after being arrested in June on suspicion of a string of arson attacks at the university between June 1 and June 16. (Goonan uses they/them pronouns, according to their attorney.)
“Dr. Goonan plead guilty today to one count of arson and took responsibility for four additional acts of arson,” defense attorney Jeff Wozniak said in an email. “As outlined in the plea agreement, these acts were undertaken in response to the University of California’s and the Federal Government’s treatment of pro-Palestine protestors.”
Goonan will provide additional information contextualizing the actions due to their “mental health struggles and the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” Wozniak added.
Goonan must pay restitution of $89,846.51 to the regents of California for the replacement cost of the patrol vehicle and additional expenses incurred by the regents. Goonan must also pay $4,421 to the General Service Administration to cover the cost of replacing windows broken during an attempt to throw Molotov cocktails into the federal building in downtown Oakland on June 11.
“In America, we are all free to express our political views and petition the government. But we are not free to do so using violence,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey. “Politically motivated violence undermines our democracy, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute those who engage in it.”
An FBI affidavit paints Goonan, 34, as an ideologue and careless criminal.
FBI investigators wrote that security footage from the early hours of June 1 showed a hooded, masked suspect kicking a shopping bag under the fuel tank of a campus police car. The suspect ignited the bag’s contents, which set the car on fire, then drove off with an unidentified accomplice.
The affidavit does not indicate whether the car’s license plate number was captured in the footage.
Hours later, an identical vehicle returned to the scene, and a person who matched the suspect’s description spent several minutes taking photos of the burnt-out police car from various angles. This time, security cameras captured the license plate. The car belonged to Goonan.
After obtaining a search warrant for the Goonan family home in Pleasant Hill, feds said they found a box of matches, lighters, a gasoline container, a mask, and discarded disposable gloves in the car.
DNA testing indicated the paper towels used in the Molotov cocktails closely matched a swab taken from Goonan after their arrest.
The Standard previously reported that an online post took credit for the arson, writing “Death to amerikkka” and “Glory to the martyrs.” In the affidavit, investigators said they believe that was written by Goonan or an accomplice. The post contained information about the attack that wasn’t yet public and included photos taken from the same angles as the suspect who returned to the scene after igniting the car.
“I believe the blog post could only have been authored by a person with intimate knowledge of the attack on the UCPD police vehicle,” wrote FBI Special Agent Tiffany Speirs.
Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing in Oakland, Goonan’s parents, brother, and aunt met with several of the defendant’s friends and Wozniak outside the courtroom before filing into the front row of the gallery. Also present for the proceedings were two Cal Fire police officers in navy uniforms with gold badges and police patches.
“It probably went as best as could be hoped for,” Goonan’s friend Dylan Rodriguez told The Standard after the judge accepted the plea agreement. “Their words today speak for themselves at this hearing. I’m looking forward to their transformation and growth from this moment.”
Goonan graduated from Northwestern University in 2022 with a doctorate in African American studies and is described in online bios as a “scholar-activist” and “abolitionist.” Goonan’s writings describe the United States as a “god-awful fascist hell hole” where social injustices are “concealed under the blinders of white supremacist American reason.”
Their attorney previously described the arson charges as “political persecution.”
This was not the first time Goonan has faced criminal charges. In September 2023, they were accused of wielding a hammer outside the Women’s Declaration International USA conference in San Francisco. Court documents say Goonan was arrested after smashing the Hilton Hotel sign on Kearny Street with a hammer. Protesters had gathered at the conference, which they deemed anti-transgender.
Women’s Declaration International has said the concept of “gender identity” threatens the rights of women, and transgender women “should not be included in the category women in the context of women’s human rights.”
The charges came as a shock to many who knew Goonan years ago. In high school, Goonan, at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, was a standout football and baseball player whose parents threw massive July 4 parties.
“He was the man,” a former teammate said of Goonan. “I guess you could consider him a stud.”
Local newspapers described Goonan as a dominant pitcher who led the school to its first-ever sectional championship. The East Bay Times quoted an opposing coach remarking that Goonan had a “good curveball” and “pounded us inside.”
Another story in the Times detailed a high school battle of the bands competition that Goonan entered with the thrash metal band Killit.
Since their arrest in June, Goonan has earned considerable support from fringe ideological groups. A group called UC Davis Cops Off Campus has organized fundraisers. Student protesters who occupied a building at Columbia University once wore “Free Casey Goonan” T-shirts. In a December post, the “Casey Support Committee” urged “comrades” to support Goonan. The post implied that most U.S. pro-Palestinian protesters belong to “a petty bourgeois group” who refuse to “bring the Intifada home” like Goonan.
“Abandonment of prisoners is where revolutionary ideals die,” the post concluded.