A Santa Barbara County man pleaded guilty to detonating a bomb inside a Santa Maria courthouse in 2024, an attack prosecutors said injured three people, caused approximately $35,000 in damage and was intended to kill law enforcement officers.
Nathaniel James McGuire, 22, of Santa Maria, admitted to one count of use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of malicious destruction of a building using an explosive, according to the Justice Department. McGuire has been in federal custody since September 2024.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said McGuire “launched a vicious, terroristic assault on a court of law with the intent to kill law enforcement officers and a judge.” Eisenberg added that swift action by court security and law enforcement prevented the attack from being “far worse.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California called the bombing a “brazen act of terror,” saying it caused physical, structural and emotional harm and could have ended in tragedy. Essayli said those who use bombs against judges, law enforcement officials and other government personnel “must be held accountable and face severe punishment.”
According to McGuire’s plea agreement, he walked into the Santa Maria courthouse in September 2024 and threw a backpack containing an explosive device past a security screening checkpoint toward Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies. The bomb slid between a victim’s legs before detonating outside a courtroom. Five people were hospitalized and released the same day, and three sustained injuries, prosecutors said.
McGuire admitted he detonated the device intending to kill the deputies. After the explosion, he went to retrieve two long guns and 10 Molotov cocktails from his vehicle, intending to return to the courthouse to kill deputies and a judge, according to the plea agreement. A courthouse security guard and several law enforcement officers stopped him at his vehicle before he could re-enter the building.
Prosecutors said McGuire caused approximately $35,000 in damage to the courthouse, forcing it to close for several days. He admitted the bombing was retaliation for what he described as government wrongs, including the seizure of his firearms by Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies earlier in 2024. A subsequent search of McGuire’s residence resulted in the seizure of additional materials related to bomb-making, according to the Justice Department.
McGuire is scheduled to be sentenced March 1, 2027, and faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.
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