Army veteran planned to bomb white supremacist rally in California, feds say
A 28-year-old U.S. Army veteran was convicted Wednesday of providing material support to terrorism and attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction at a 2019 white nationalist rally in California, federal officials said.
The investigation into Mark Steven Domingo began after he posted in an online forum his desire for revenge after 51 people were killed at mosques in the 2019 New Zealand mass shootings, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
He said “there must be retribution” for their deaths, according to an affidavit.
Domingo contemplated potential attacks across Los Angeles on police officers, Jewish people, churches and a military facility before deciding to detonate a bomb at a Long Beach rally in 2019, the affidavit stated.
He wanted a “crowded area” so the bomb would kill as many people as possible, he told an informant and undercover federal agent who he thought were accomplices, according to the release.
Following multiple in-person meetings with the federal informant, Domingo solidified plans to place a bomb at a Long Beach park.
Then he found a “bomb maker” — who was actually an undercover officer — and delivered eight pounds of nails to them for the explosion, according to court documents.
He told the informant he wanted the nails long enough to “penetrate the human body and puncture internal organs.”
After scouting the park for the best bomb placement with the informant and officer, he drove the two back to their meeting location and reviewed the two inert bombs, which he thought were real. As Domingo carried a bomb to the informant’s vehicle, the FBI arrested him, according to court documents.
“Domingo planned and took steps to manufacture and use a weapon of mass destruction in order to commit mass murder,” FBI Special Agent Tasha Coolidge said in court documents.
But Domingo expressed a desire for mass murder before the mosque shootings prompted his rage for “retribution” of Muslims, according to court documents.
In fact, Domingo posted on a platform about two weeks before the shootings that the U.S. “needs another Vegas event,” referencing the Las Vegas shooting in 2017 — the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. It killed 58 people and injured more than 850.
He served in the U.S. Army as an infantryman and deployed to Afghanistan from 2012 to 2013. And he had three registered guns, including an AK-47-style rifle, which he previously planned to use in an attack, according to the affidavit.
Domingo was found guilty by a federal grand jury on Wednesday on one count of providing material support to terrorism and attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction related to his plans to bomb the white nationalist rally in Long Beach on April 28, 2019.
He is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 1 and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Army veteran planned to bomb white supremacist rally in California, feds say."
