SANTA MARIA, CA — A man pleaded guilty this week to detonating a bomb at a Santa Maria courthouse in 2024, injuring three people as part of an attempt to kill officers in retaliation for law enforcement seizing his guns earlier that year, authorities said.
Nathaniel James McGuire, 22, of Santa Maria, pleaded guilty Monday 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 U.S. Department of Justice.
"McGuire launched a vicious, terroristic assault on a court of law with the intent to kill law enforcement officers and a judge," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said in a news release. "His attack injured three people and, were it not for the quick action of court security and law enforcement, it could have been far worse. McGuire will now face the consequences of his actions."
McGuire walked in the door of the Santa Maria courthouse, which serves the Santa Barbara County Superior Court, on Sept. 24, 2024, and threw a backpack containing an explosive past security toward county sheriff's deputies, according to the department. The bomb slid between a victim's legs and detonated outside a courtroom, authorities said.
McGuire then went to get two long guns and 10 Molotov cocktails from his vehicle, intending to return to the courthouse and kill deputies and a judge, according to the department, but law enforcement stopped him. A search of his home yielded materials related to bomb making, authorities said.
The courthouse saw about $35,000 in damage and was closed for several days, according to the department.
McGuire is set to be sentenced on March 1 and will face up to life in prison, authorities said.
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