FBI: No Terror Link in Courthouse Explosive

Suspect faces attempted murder charge after Santa Maria, California, blast injures 5
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 25, 2024 6:20 PM CDT
Updated Sep 26, 2024 1:06 PM CDT
Man Sets Off Explosive Device at California Courthouse
This undated photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office shows Nathaniel McGuire.   (Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office via AP)
UPDATE Sep 26, 2024 1:06 PM CDT

A 20-year-old man who allegedly threw an explosive device into a courthouse in California on Wednesday, injuring five people, faces charges including attempted murder, but authorities say there's no apparent terror link. Ted Docks from the FBI's Los Angeles field office says the Santa Maria incident "is not tied to international terrorism, and the suspect has no known ties to terrorist groups," reports the Santa Maria Times. The suspect, Nathaniel McGuire, had been scheduled to be arraigned at the courthouse Wednesday morning on a charge of illegal gun possession, the AP reports. Officials are also investigating whether McGuire is tied to a series of recent arsons.

Sep 25, 2024 6:20 PM CDT

A man set off an explosive device at a California courthouse on Wednesday, injuring multiple people and leading to the evacuation and closing of the court complex and other city buildings, authorities said. A suspect was detained following the explosion that was reported shortly after 8:45am at the Santa Maria Courthouse in Santa Maria, sheriff's officials said. "We have two reports of non-life-threatening injuries. One person of interest detained immediately. Scene remains active. Please continue to avoid the area," county sheriff's spokesperson Raquel Zick said in a post X.

Zick later said that the person detained was a man and that the blast came from "an intentionally set" explosive device, the AP reports. She said investigators don't believe there are any other suspects. "The bomb team is processing the scene, and the suspect is still being interviewed," she said. Shane Mellon told KSBY-TV that he was at the courthouse when he heard what sounded like chairs falling over. "It was a loud bang," he said, adding that the bailiff escorted him and others out. Mellon said he saw what looked like a sweater smoldering and a man screaming while four or five people got on top of him, trying to keep him restrained.

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"I think this could have been way worse than it was if not for the deputies just jumping on top of that guy," Mellon said. Joaquin Aguilar, a Spanish interpreter who was at the courthouse, told the Santa Maria Times that the scene was chaotic and that the suspect was very agitated. "It was pretty confusing at first," he said. "Security started telling people to abandon the building. Two plainclothes officers were wrestling the guy down to the ground when I got outside. As they were taking him down, a bunch of shotgun shells fell out of his clothing."

(More California stories.)

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