Former Navy SEAL Convicted of Trying to bring Explosives to San Diego ‘No Kings’ Protests
What to Know
- Vandenberg purchased fireworks and discussed their explosive potential with a cashier en route to protests.
- Evidence showed his extremist content, including antisemitic and anti-government messages, on his phone and clothing.
- Authorities tracked him to Tucson, where they found fireworks, neo-Nazi symbols, and an Al-Qaeda flag in his vehicle.
SAN DIEGO -- A former Navy SEAL was convicted Monday of leaving Texas with the intent of throwing explosives at law enforcement officers during the summer’s “No Kings Day” protests in San Diego, federal investigators said.
Gregory Vandenberg stopped at a New Mexico travel center on his way to the local protests and told the cashier he was buying dozens of fireworks to cause explosions that would hurt officers, officials said.
Vandenberg was convicted by a federal jury in Albuquerque of transportation of explosives with intent to kill, injure or intimidate and attempted transportation of prohibited fireworks into California. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars.
“People in this country are free to hold their own beliefs and to express them peacefully,” said New Mexico Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison. “What they are not free to do is use explosives to threaten or terrorize others. Vandenberg intended to turn explosives into a tool of intimidation, and this verdict sends the message that attempts to substitute violence for expressing one’s opinion has no place in our communities and will be met with federal consequences.”
His defense attorney could not be reached for comment.
Federal prosecutors said during the trial that Vandenberg’s phone contained content that had violent and extremist content, including antisemitic, anti-Israel and anti-U.S. materials, as well as messages discussing the upcoming protests. He had also used it to send anti-government messages, according to evidence presented at trial.
While driving to the California protests, Vandenberg — who lives out of his car but was temporarily staying at an El Paso hotel — stopped at the travel center on Interstate 10, and purchased six large mortar fireworks and 72 M-150 firecrackers, prosecutors said.
“If I wanted to hurt people, which fireworks could I use?” Vandenberg allegedly told the cashier. “I can throw them into the crowd at the cops.”
Investigators said he asked the clerk questions about the gunpowder in the fireworks, about their explosive impact, as well as other alarming comments about his politics and how he could tie the fireworks together to make a larger explosion. He also gave a false identity and even went so far as to invite the cashier to the protests, prosecutors said.
“Vandenberg emphasized that he was not interested in the color or display of the fireworks — only in their ability to cause explosions and harm law enforcement,” prosecutors said.
Federal investigators tracked him down in Tucson, Ariz., and found him sleeping in his car at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, prosecutors said. Inside the vehicle were the fireworks, as well as clothing with an Al-Qaeda flag, neo-Nazi symbols and antisemitic words.
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