An activist who appeared to be going on a spree of arson and fire-bomb attacks on the UC Berkeley campus last summer in protest of the university's treatment of pro-Palestinian activists now faces prison time for terrorism.

Casey Robert Goonan, 34, has pleaded guilty to federal arson charges in connection with multiple incidents that occurred in June 2024 on the UC Berkeley campus, and one that occurred outside the federal building in Oakland. Goonan, a self-described "scholar activist" who had posted what appeared to be statements of responsibility for the attacks online, was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2024 after an arrest in late June.

Goonan, who has had an address in Oakland, was staying with his parents in Pleasant Hill at the time of the arrest. According to a release from the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, as part of his plea, Goonan admitted to "placing a bag containing six Molotov cocktails underneath the fuel tank of a marked University of California Police Department (UCPD) patrol car at UC Berkeley in the early morning hours of June 1, 2024, lighting the bag on fire and fleeing."

A campus surveillance camera captured the fire being lit.

He also admitted to bringing three Molotov cocktails to the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland on the morning of June 11 with the intent of throwing them inside. Goonan was seen throwing rocks at a window with the intent of breaking it, a plan that was thwarted by a federal security guard, and while fleeing the scene Goonan dropped the Molotov cocktails in a planter and let them on fire.

Goonan further copped to setting several smaller blazes on the UC Berkeley campus on  June 1, June 13, and June 16.

Goonan holds a doctorate from Northwestern University in African American Studies, and wrote an academic paper in 2017 about the Black Panthers' newspaper, writing that the publication "offers a blueprint for U.S.-based radical organizations experimenting with the scientific, premeditated, and necessarily methodical artistry of social revolution."

In anonymous online posts found on IndyBay around the time of the UC Berkeley arsons, Goonan appears to have written messages like "EVERY SINGLE BUILDING ON THE UC BERKELEY CAMPUS DESERVES TO BE INCINERATED FOLLOWING THE UC SYSTEM'S TREATMENT OF STUDENT PROTESTORS," and "LONG LIVE THE STUDENT INTIFADA FOR PALESTINE LIBERATION. STOP THE GENOCIDE NOW. UC SYSTEM MUST DIVEST FROM ISRAEL OR FACE OUR WRATH OF REVENGE."

The fire set on June 16 was followed by the message, "this was done on father's day for all the palestinian fathers who have lost their children at the hands of the zionist and amerikkkan settler states."

Prior to these activities, as the Berkeley Scanner reported last year, Goonan was arrested in San Francisco during a protest outside an anti-trans (TERF) feminist convention that was being held in September 2023 at the Chinatown Hilton in San Francisco.

As part of Goonan's plea, he accepted a terrorism engancement to his charges, admitting that the arsons were "designed to influence and affect the conduct of governments by intimidation and coercion and to retaliate against the governments of the United States and the State of California for their conduct."

He pleaded guilty to one count of maliciously damaging or destroying property used in or affecting interstate commerce by means of fire or an explosive, and faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison.

"In America, we are all free to express our political views and petition the government. But we are not free to do so using violence,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey in a statement. “Politically motivated violence undermines our democracy, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute those who engage in it.”

Goonan will face sentencing on April 8, 2025.

Previously: 'Scholar-Activist' Indicted By Grand Jury for Arsons at UC Berkeley; Arson Attempt at Oakland Federal Building Comes to Light

ISIS-affiliated terrorists or their supporters could be plotting an attack on a public gathering during Pride Month, and the FBI and Homeland Security have issued a public warning in order to raise awareness of the potentially heightened threat.

"Foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) or supporters may seek to exploit increased gatherings associated with the upcoming June 2024 Pride Month," the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in the public service announcement dated May 10. The bureau adds that terrorist organizations continue to want to "inspire violence against holiday celebrations," and this threat is "compounded by the current heightened threat environment in the United States and other western countries" — which is clearly linked to the war in Gaza.

There is no specific target or potential location mentioned, and there are no current credible threats. The FBI and DHS only mention that three alleged ISIS sympathizers were arrested for attempting to launch an attack on a Pride celebration in Vienna, Austria last June, and other similar attacks could be on the horizon.

The PSA points to "English language ISIS messaging [that] featured an article focused on anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric and rallied against the growth and promotion of the LGBTQIA+ community." This was in February 2023, and the messaging apparently included encouragement for supporters to conduct attacks on soft targets associated with this community.

The FBI also mentions the upcoming eighth anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, in which a lone gunman who expressed allegiance with ISIS killed 49 people and wounded 53 others. "After the Pulse shooting, pro-ISIS messaging praised this attack as one of the high-profile attacks in Western countries, and FTO supporters celebrated it."

The 2016 shooting appeared to inspire a Bay Area ISIS recruit who was nabbed by an undercover agent in 2017. Then 22-year-old Amer Sinan Al Haggagi of West Oakland was indicted for fomenting terrorist plots, and among his alleged plans stated to the FBI agent was planting a bomb in a gay nightclub in San Francisco, and selling poisoned cocaine in gay clubs.

Cameron Polan, who works in the FBI's field office in San Francisco, tells ABC 7, "The public service announcement is definitely something new this year."

But Suzanne Ford, the executive director of SF Pride, tells the station that threats and fears of violence are nothing new for Pride. "Our organization for many, many years has worked with state, local, federal law enforcement agencies and other appropriate agencies to make sure our community's safe," Ford says.

The PSA notes several things that event organizers should be on the lookout for, including suspicious individuals taking photos of access points or security equipment, or individuals conducting "unusual surveillance or [expressing] interest in buildings, gatherings, or events" connected to Pride.

Such individuals might also, the agencies say, try "eliciting information from facility personnel regarding the nature of upcoming events, crowd sizes, busiest times of day, etc."

The Pride parade in San Francisco, which is one of the largest annual public gatherings in the city, typically comes off without a hitch.

SF Pride director Ford confidently tells ABC 7, "We're going to come together, there's going to be one million people out on Market Street, and we're going to proclaim to the world that in San Francisco Pride is our community and that we're going to be there."

Related: Oakland ISIS Recruit Accused Of Planning Gay Nightclub Bombings In SF, And A Plot To Sell Poisoned Cocaine

Photo: Ian Taylor

The FBI says that the Israel-Hamas war has “created a heightened threat environment” for domestic terrorist attacks in multiple U.S. cities, and San Francisco is listed as one of those cities that is an “attractive target.”

What with the big New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square coming up Sunday night, the eyes of the world will be on Times Square. And that’s a risk, as far as the FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security are concerned, as CNN reports those two agencies have issued a threat assessment to New York City and a few other cities that their public New Year’s Eve celebrations could attract a domestic terror attack. The concern is that tension over the Israel-Hamas conflict “has created a heightened threat environment,” though they're more worried about lone wolf actors, not any organized terrorist group.

CNN obtained a copy of the threat assessment, which says that the “Intelligence Community remains concerned about lone offenders using online platforms to express threats of violence against Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities, as well as committing simple, unsophisticated attacks that are difficult to detect in advance.”

But KGO has the somewhat alarming news that San Francisco is one of the cities that is considered an “attractive target” for these lone-wolf terror attacks. (The only other cities named in media reports are New York City and Las Vegas.) San Francisco is considered a target because of its big public fireworks display, with "large unprotected coastline and fireworks barges that could be targets."

"The assessment is meant for situational awareness," Assistant Police Chief David Lazar explained to KGO. "We need to be aware that there are threats out there, there are people that are out there to do harm, we've seen that over a long period of time, but for San Francisco there is nothing credible... there's nothing specific."

And the FBI/DHS threat assessment also notes a concern about attackers using drones. Meaning that law enforcement is going to be particularly suspicious of any drones flying on New Year’s Eve.

"We do not recommend anyone bring out a drone," Lazar told KGO. "It just adds a layer of complication, it's a Homeland Security issue."

We should reiterate that there is no specific threat, just a heightened alert level, and SF’s New Year’s Eve fireworks show is still scheduled to go on as planned near midnight Sunday night.

Related: Plea Deal Rejected By Judge In Case of Napa Man With 'White Privilege Card' Who Threatened to Blow Up Democrats [SFist]

Image: Cedric Letsch via Unsplash

A 28-year-old Florida man, Paul Ryan Overeem, was arrested in Travis County, Texas, near the site of the public launch event for Tesla's new Cybertruck pickups on Thursday, where he had allegedly threatened to carry out a "mass casualty attack."

According to reports, Overeem described this plot prior to the event in an Instagram group chat under the username “ufotnoitalumis,” according to reporting from the Chronicle and NBC. Tesla was reportedly made aware of the threats on November 10 and alerted law enforcement. Investigators, with the help of a subpoena of Instagram, identified the user as Overeem.

Those Instagram messages apparently threatened the event, railed against technology a la the Unabomber, and also threatened suicide. Per NBC, they said: “I wanna die. My thoughts haven’t been free for over a year. All the electronics around me;” and "yeah so at teh (sic) Tesla event I'm planning to attach (sic) so up to you guys to stop me;" as well as "I plan on killing people at that even (sic) ok (sic) November 30th and I would like you do something about it so I don't have to."

Authorities reportedly used cell signals to track down Overeem in Austin the day before the launch event.

The arrest warrant reportedly did not specify whether Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who attended the public event in Austin and personally delivered several trucks there, was a direct target of the threats.

The unveiling apparently proceeded without incident on Thursday, although they were still delivered two years late.

Overeem now faces charges of making terroristic threats, a felony that could carry a prison term of up to 20 years,  and is currently held in Travis County on a $300,000 bond.

Feature image of the Tesla "Gigafactory" in Austin that manufactured the Tesla Model Y and the "Cybertruck" via Getty Images/Art Wager.

A Napa car mechanic who fancied himself a right-wing radical terrorist intent on blowing up "a Democrat building" in the wake of Joe Biden's election didn't adequately express any remorse, and now a federal judge is tossing his plea deal.

Ian Benjamin Rogers, the 46-year-old pictured below looking as douchey as possible wearing army fatigues in a Delorean, was arrested in late January 2021 and found in possession of multiple pipe bombs and an arsenal of weapons. He also had a "White Privilege Card" that he'd found somewhere on the internet, and the FBI intercepted texts in which he and a co-conspirator plotted to plant bombs or toss Molotov cocktails at Governor Gavin Newsom's office in Sacramento, Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento, and at the offices of Twitter and Facebook, all in the name of Trump.

Rogers reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, agreeing to serve seven to nine years for his plot. But on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer — the brother of recently retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer — rejected the deal as too lenient. Breyer cited, in particular, a statement Rogers made to a probation officer about regretting that he had gotten into a situation "that allowed the government to destroy my life."

Per the Associated Press, Breyer said in the hearing, "In 23 years I’ve never seen that type of statement. I’ve never seen a defendant come in and simply say, 'I regret I was caught.'" And he suggested that Rogers remains "a substantial danger to the community."

Prosecutors argued that they thought the sentence was sufficient given that no buildings were actually blown up, to which Breyer replied, "I don’t think we have to wait, in light of the Oklahoma City bombing. I don’t think we have to wait until a building is destroyed."

Also facing sentencing is Rogers's co-conspirator, 38-year-old Jarrod Copeland of Vallejo, and Breyer scheduled another hearing on October 27 to reconsider their sentences.

"He had a map that he disseminated showing the exact location of the John Burton [Democratic Headquarters] building,” Breyer said. “He had scoped it out and determined that the CHP and the fire department were in close proximity to that building. If you’re going to try to convince me that this is just talk, just speech … you’re going to have to address all those acts."

Rogers's defense argued that this was all just fantasy, and that he "regrets terribly" the fact that he took part in this plotting. And Rogers himself has previously said it was all just "thinking about burning down a building in a drunken state."

But Rogers has shot himself in the foot multiple times — he sounds like a real gem! — in one instance telling investigators he didn't want to hurt anyone except "people who are really causing problems in this world, like George Soros."

Breyer certainly has a point, and if you need proof of the dangerous downstream affects of the rhetoric of Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, and Fox News, you can look no further than this guy.

On Rogers's phone, investigators found texts in which he said to Copeland, "We can attack Twitter or the democrats you pick... I think we can attack either easily," and "I want to blow up a democrat building bad." Referring to Trump and the recent election of Biden, he also texted, "I hope 45 goes to war if he doesn’t I will."

Rogers had a terrorist arsenal at his Napa home and business that included 50 firearms including illegal assault rifles and automatic weapons, 15,000 rounds of ammunition, and several pounds of gun powder. He also had a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook and five homemade pipe bombs.

In addition to the federal charges, for which he could face 20 years or more behind bars, he also separately faces illegal firearms and bomb charges in Napa County.

Previously: Napa Man With 'White Privilege Card' and Accomplice Charged With Plotting to Blow Up Democratic Headquarters

To listen to Facebook the last two years, you would have thought that any group espousing the murder of law enforcement would have set off a hundred alarm bells on the platform and been quickly snuffed out by content moderators. But, in fact, Facebook seems to be learning about these fringe groups along with the rest of the country in the wake of several violent incidents — including two fatal shootings in Oakland and Santa Cruz, allegedly by the same Boogaloo adherent who practically announced his intentions on Facebook.

Air Force Sergeant Steven Carrillo, 32, was charged in federal court Tuesday along with an accomplice, 30-year-old Robert Alvin Justus, Jr. of Millbrae, in the May 29 killing of 53-year-old federal security officer David Patrick Underwood — as well as the attempted killing of his partner. And the national news media on Tuesday evening was ablaze with the story of Carrillo's connection to the loosely affiliated Boogaloo movement.

The movement, such as it is, has apparently been seeing a noted uptick of activity on social media during the last few months of pandemic quarantine. As the New York Times reports, while no single ideology seems to drive self-professed Boogaloo followers, they seem to share a common interest in libertarian ideas and violent defiance of local and federal authority.

This has translated, for extremists like Carrillo, into some sort of hatred toward so-called "Alphabet soup boys," or "soup bois" — a shorthand for members of various government agencies from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to Homeland Security (HSA), to the FBI.

Those who share this animosity toward the U.S. government and other authorities, and who believe a civil war is coming when the "duopoly" of the two-party system will be overthrown, have formed Facebook groups. And they've apparently been fomenting rage about the pandemic lockdowns — and whatever else — for several months as some of the more angry and mentally unstable among them have decided to act out offline to get the revolution in motion.

Carrillo appears to be one of those who wanted to use the cover of Black Lives Matter protests to enact his own agenda.

When Facebook decided back around Super Bowl time to launch a multi-million-dollar marketing campaign focused on Groups, maybe this wasn't what they had in mind?

As CNN Business reports, as of Wednesday, Facebook is banning use of the term "Boogaloo" altogether, as well as affiliated terminology including "Big igloo" and "Big Luau," at least "when they are accompanied by images or statements depicting armed violence." The Verge reported on June 5 that Facebook was beginning to become aware of extremist content flying under the Boogaloo flag — that was the day before Carrillo allegedly killed Santa Cruz Sheriff's deputy Damon Gutzwiller, and shortly after the FBI had arrested three self-identified Boogaloo dudes in Nevada for an alleged violent plot against police there.

Facebook says it has removed the groups that both Carrillo and Justus belonged to, and it is investigating other Boogaloo-affiliated groups that may exist on the platform. Regarding the two shootings that Carrillo allegedly participated in, Facebook says in a statement, "We designated these attacks as violating events and removed the accounts for the two perpetrators along with several groups. We will remove content that supports these attacks and continue to work with law enforcement in their investigation."

As of this writing, a Facebook group called Boogaloo Memes appears to have been taken offline, but another group titled "Electric Memes 2: The Revolutionary Boogaloo" is still active, with members posting things like this:

And here's another from a group called "Boogaloo Memes That Are Just Jokes, I Swear."

Carrillo made multiple statements on Facebook in the days leading up to the shootings which perhaps should have been reported to authorities.

As CNN reports, Carrillo said in one post — regarding the George Floyd protests the week of May 25 — "If it kicks off? Its kicking off now and if its not kicking off in your hood then start it. Show them the targets," and he added, "Go to the riots and support our own cause. Show them the real targets. Use their anger to fuel our fire. Think outside the box. We have mobs of angry people to use to our advantage."

The Boogaloo adherents, some of whom are reportedly current and former military, appear to exhibit some combination of adolescent video-game bravado, an anarchist bent built on anger at the failures of the U.S. government, disdain for law enforcement, and the deeply coded, in-joke humor of 4chan, Reddit, and elsewhere. It may not make much sense unless you, yourself have been fomenting rage in the internet's libertarian and male-dominated corners in recent years. But as history professor Kathleen Belew, who is the author of Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America, tells the Times, "This is a very violent movement even if they are wearing Hawaiian shirts and using funny memes to try to soften what they are doing."

"Boogaloo" itself is an in-joke for Gen Xers, referring to the 1984 sequel to the break-dancing movie Breakin', titled Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. The joke is that like the Breakin' sequel, the sequel to the American Civil War will be a near carbon-copy of the first one.

Only this time, I guess, there'd be better guns and a lot more of them.

Related: Santa Cruz Shooter Charged Along With 'Boogaloo Movement' Accomplice In Oakland Shooting Of Federal Officers

Heidi Nunes-Tucker of Lafayette lost her husband, 42-year-old Jared Tucker in last week's terror attack in Barcelona. Now she's searching for a waiter spotted helping him in pictures posted to social media.

CBS 5 reports that Nunes-Tucker remains in Barcelona, after identifying the body of her husband last week. If you'll recall, the couple was celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary with Tucker's first trip to Europe and were shopping in a bustling part of Barcelona when a terrorist rammed a van into a crowd of hundreds.

The Tuckers became separated in the chaos so it wasn't until a day later that Nunes-Tucker learned for certain that her husband had died. Tucker was the only American citizen killed in the attack.

Tucker's father, Dan Tucker, told CBS 5 of a video the family spotted on social media. “He (Jared) had some blood on the side of his head and on his arm, but there was a person kneeling with him so we were encouraged to think it was an injury and not anything serious. But he wasn’t moving,” explained Tucker.

The family hopes to find the man, whom they believe to be a waiter, and thank him. Nunes-Tucker remains in Barcelona while Tucker's body is prepared for a return to the Bay Area.

Related: Bay Area Man Confirmed Among Dead In Barcelona Terrorist Attack

This teacher is searching for her missing husband, Jared Tucker, following the van attack in #Barcelona https://t.co/JLJrn8VR59 pic.twitter.com/YrvaAfOKbT

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 18, 2017

Early reports indicate that a Bay Area man is among the dead in Thursday's terror attack in Barcelona in which a man, reportedly an ISIS terrorist, drove a van into a crowded shopping district in the early evening.

The San Francisco Chronicle tells us that 42-year-old Lafayette resident Jared Tucker was vacationing in Spain with his wife Heidi Nunes-Tucker in celebration of the couple's one-year wedding anniversary. Just before the attack, Tucker left his wife to go find a restroom while Nunes-Tucker continued shopping. The pair became separated in the chaos and when she couldn't find her husband, Nunes-Tucker went from hospital to hospital trying to locate him.

While desperately searching for her husband, Nunes-Tucker told NBC News about her experience during the attack. "Next thing I know there's screaming, yelling. I got pushed inside the souvenir kiosk and stayed there hiding while everybody kept running by screaming, and then the police eventually made us evacuate," she explained.

On Friday she was called to identify his body, though some news outlets still claim Tucker is among the missing. Others say he was 43-years-old and/or living in Walnut Creek. The US State Department will only confirm that one American was killed in the attack and another American was injured.

Tucker's nephew Paul Luke offered details on a Reddit thread (according the the Gate), saying "My mother is boarding a flight tonight to be with (Tucker's) wife tomorrow... Jared's burial wishes were to be cremated, but that cannot be done until the investigations have finished. My mother and his wife will be in Barcelona for an undetermined amount of time until final arrangements can be made."

In the Reddit thread, Luke posted photos of his uncle before the attack in a blue shirt and khaki shorts, along with photos after the attack of a man in the same outfit lying bloodied in the street.

According to KRON 4, Nunez-Tucker didn't know her husband was dead until agents from the FBI showed her pictures of the victims. KRON also has an interview with Tucker's dad, with whom he owned a pool business based out of Martinez. "It's hard to understand," he said.

"To everyone who helped call, translate, find phone numbers, and physically visit hospitals I am grateful. Amidst terrible sadness, the people of Barcelona came out in droves to help us," said Luke.

At least 13 people died in the attack that injured at least 100. The incident occurred at around 5 p.m. local time Thursday when a van, allegedly driven by a member or supporter of ISIS, drove onto a promenade in central Barcelona and plowed into hundreds of people. Here're the basics from CNN.

You may recall that Barcelona is a sister-city to San Francisco.

Related: In Wake Of Istanbul Terror Attack, SFO Announces Heightened Security

Over the weekend we learned of a West Oakland man who attempted to join ISIS, and was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly creating social media accounts for the terrorist organization and meeting with undercover agents to plot an attack. Now prosecutors have released audio and text messages from the suspect, 22-year-old Amer Sinan Al Haggagi, that they say show he was planning several attacks here in the Bay Area — some of which hit close to home in more ways than one.

According to KQED, Al Haggagi is alleged to have planned to set brush fires in the Berkeley Hills, sell cocaine laced with strychnine in SF clubs, and plot Pulse nightclub-style attacks in which he’d intended to plant packs of explosives at local gay bars.

“I live close to San Francisco. That’s like the gay capitol [sic] of the world. I’m going to handle them right. LOL,” Al Haggagi allegedly to texted to an undercover federal agent, thinking he was communicating with domestic ISIS terrorists. “‘I’m going to place a bomb in a gay club. … I’m going to tear up the city. … The whole Bay Area is going to be up in flames. My ideas are genius. LMAO.”

Al Haggagi originally caught the attention of federal agents with the far less drastic crime of stealing $5,000 in clothing via credit card fraud. But prosecutors say the fraud and the terrorism are linked, as Al Haggagi allegedly told FBI agents he had the means “to make the cards and checks,” and that “I’m trying to make bombs. I’m going to need funds.”

“He wanted to plan to start a huge fire in an area near where he lived and he specifically mentioned the Berkeley hills as a potential target,” assistant U.S. attorney Waqar Hasib said at recently revealed hearing in December. “That was our first indication that we were dealing with someone in the Bay Area.”

Al Haggagi is also alleged to have planned to sell cocaine laced with the rodent poison strychnine, and had applied to work at the Oakland Police Department with the goal of stealing their weapons.

His defenders argue that the then-21-year-old Al Haggagi was just being a deplorable teen with a big mouth, and had no concrete intention of ever doing any of this. “There is a bit of a disconnect between Mr. Al Haggagi’s words and his actions,” his previous attorney Hanni Fakhoury said in recently disclosed court arguments. Fakhoury did not dispute the validity of the messages, but referred to them as simply “very stupid and very inappropriate and very disturbing puffery.”

Al Haggagi’s current attorney Mary McNamara also points out that her client dropped all communications with the undercover agents, and months passed without him following through on any of these plans.

“What is clear from that hearing is that Mr. Al Haggagi ran away when he believed that things had gone beyond talk with the undercover agent,” she told KQED. “Mr. Al Haggagi never re-engaged with him and never took any steps to commit any violent act. Unlike most of the cases charged under this statute, Mr. Al Haggagi is not radicalized, is not a supporter of ISIS or any terrorist network. He is a peaceful, sociable and well-liked person. He is also young and naïve. It appears that he allowed himself to be drawn into conversations that he should have been far more suspicious of.”

Related: ISIS Throws Some Footage Of San Francisco And Las Vegas In New Threat Video

A federal grand jury indicted a West Oakland man Thursday on terrorism charges for allegedly creating social media accounts and planning an attack in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The defendant, 22-year-old Amer Sinan Al Haggagi, is charged with attempting to provide support and resources to a terrorist organization, and a federal court filing obtained by the Chronicle says Al Haggagi “went so far as to meet with undercover agents on multiple occasions to plan a potential terrorist attack.”

KRON 4 reports that Al Haggagi was actually arrested in November on separate charges of identity theft and buying nearly $5,000 worth of clothing on a stolen credit card. But a new indictment unsealed Friday “alleges that the services Alhaggagi attempted to provide included opening social media accounts for the use, benefit, and promotion of ISIS, and that the personnel he provided was himself.”

A separate court document obtained by ABC 7 says “Al Haggagi has made frequent trips to Yemen and has met with undercover agents on multiple occasions to plan a potential terrorist attack.” He also allegedly told agents he had plans to flee to Mexico following the theoretical attack.

Al Haggagi’s attorney, Mary McNamara, released statement to ABC 7 saying, “Amer is not anti-American and does not support ISIS or any other terrorist organization. He is completely nonviolent, and he took no actions to harm anyone. The evidence we have suggests these charges are based on internet chat conversations that he had with a number of unknown people. Amer is a very young and naïve man, and it appears he allowed himself to be drawn into conversations that he should have been far more suspicious of.”

For their part, Al Haggagi’s family also put out a statement. “We were shocked to learn of the accusations involving Amer,” they said, according to ABC 7. “Amer is not and has never been radicalized in any way. He grew up in this country and loves it here. He is peaceful and kind. He was very young and immature when he got involved in the online conversations that are the basis for these accusations. He did not think those conversations were serious and he never had any intent to harm anyone. We love him and continue to fully support him.”

If convicted, Al Haggagi faces a possible 47 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines.

Related: ISIS Now Wants To Kill Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey Over Deleted Accounts

Prosecutors in the federal case against Orlando shooter Omar Mateen's widow succeeded Thursday in keeping her behind bars for now, filing a motion in federal court in Florida against releasing her on bail. A U.S. magistrate in Oakland ruled Wednesday that Noor Salman was neither a flight risk nor a danger to the public, and set bail for her at $500,000 pending her trial in Florida. But on Thursday, a federal judge in Florida ruled in favor of halting Salman's release as prosecutors there argued that in cases of terrorism, the standard for allowing bail should be far higher.

As the Orlando Sentinel reports, the Florida filing describes Salman as a "cold person" who cared less about her husband's victims than about gaining access to his bank accounts in the aftermath of last June's mass shooting.

Also, prosecutors argued against the decision that Salman was not a flight risk, arguing that she did already flee, moving across the country to California in the months after the shooting. Also, they say, she owns an empty apartment in Palestine and other family members also own property there.

Previously on Wednesday, U.S. magistrate Donna Ryu had called the case against Salman "debatable," and said there was no evidence that she had any ties to Islamic terrorism or shared her husband's extremist views. But we also learned that the couple had gone on a spending spree in the days before Mateen killed 49 people and then himself, including the purchase of an $8,000 diamond ring, and they had made Salman the beneficiary of her husband's bank account.

Per the Associated Press, prosecutors said in their motion that in cases of terrorism, they need only an indictment to hold a suspect without bail. "Here, the defendant proffered evidence of her husband’s alleged abuse, the affidavits of friends and family, and her lack of overall danger in support of an argument that she does not constitute a flight risk or danger to the community,” the prosecutors said in their filing. “Such proffered evidence falls far short of justifying a finding in favor of release, particularly in light of the nature of the charged offense."

U.S. District Judge Paul Byron agreed to stay the bail decision, and Salman's attorneys now have until next Wednesday to appeal. Otherwise, she was expected to be released today on what Ryu called "essentially house arrest."

Salman's attorney told the AP that this is all just a "rehash" of what's already been argued in the Oakland courtroom, and continued to defend the idea that the prosecution's case was "more than debatable, it's groundless."

Previously: New Details Emerge In Case Against Orlando Shooter's Widow Noor Salman As Judge Releases Her On Bail

Noor Salman, the widow of Pulse nightclub mass-murderer Omar Mateen, appeared briefly in federal court in Oakland Tuesday morning facing charges that could potentially send her to prison for life. As the Chronicle reports, she was indicted by a grand jury in Orlando on Thursday and charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization and obstruction of justice — with the indictment just unsealed today. She arrived in a yellow t-shirt and gray sweatpants, and ABC 7 provides the sad courtroom sketch of her shown above.

The New York Times reports that she "shook visibly" while facing judge Judge Donna M. Ryu, and her voice was "scarcely audible" when she made her only vocal response, acknowledging that she understood the charges against her.

The language of the charging document says that Salman did "knowingly aid and abet Omar Mateen’s attempted provision and provision of ‘material support or resources’" to ISIS.

TV journalists from around the state swarmed Salman's uncle, Al Salman, who gave statements to the press outside the courtroom denying that his niece bore any responsibility for the tragedy, the worst mass shooting in US history, which claimed the lives of 49 people last June.

"She didn't know what was going on," the uncle said. "The only thing in her life is she wants to raise up her son. If she knew about what that crazy guy was going to do, she wouldn't be here. She would take her son and run away from him." He added, "She’s a very soft, sweet girl. I know she’s innocent. I raised her."

When asked about her contact with her husband the night of the shooting, Al Salman said he called his cellphone to find out where he was (previous reports had it that they only texted). "He said, ‘Don’t you see the news?’ She told him ‘no.’ He said, ‘I love you babe.’ That’s all she knows," said Salman.

NBC News reports that Salman was reached the night of the attack by her mother-in-law, asking about the whereabouts of Mateen, to which she apparently replied "He's not here, let me call him."

The content of that last exchange between the couple notwithstanding, federal prosecutors say that Noor Salman "knowingly misled" FBI agents in the days following the shooting and during the twelve hours during which she was initially questioned about her husband's planning of the event, and what she may have known about it.

In the seven months since the attack, federal investigators have clearly compiled enough evidence to prosecute Salman despite her denials, though further details of what they know about her actions are still to be revealed. Salman's arraignment, and a discussion of the terms of her detention, are expected to happen Wednesday.

It's been widely reported via FBI statements that Salman admitted to driving Mateen to the nightclub at least once prior to the attack, and driving him to a Walmart where he purchased ammunition — something she told the New York Times in November was just a routine errand, because he was a security guard and frequented a shooting range. At the time she claimed she was "unaware of everything" her husband had planned, however she admitted to knowing that he watched jihadist videos online.

Prosecutors now say Salman was involved in her husband's plot as early as April, perhaps pointing to a trip they took with their son to Disney World that month. The couple returned there in June, and it's been suggested that Mateen had first considered the amusement park as a target, before settling on the nightclub.

An argument is expected to be put forth by her attorneys that she was the victim of domestic violence, and was therefore too scared of her husband to inquire about his plans, or too much in the dark because he kept her there.

One of Salman's previous lawyers, Linda Moreno of Tampa, has already cited domestic abuse as an issue, saying it is "misguided and wrong to prosecute her," per the NYT. A provisional public defender spoke in court on Salman's behalf today, saying that Charles Swift, the director of the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America, was en route to Oakland to represent her.

Salman has, according to the Chronicle, been living with her ailing mother in Rodeo, east of San Francisco, since sometime last year, and her son is being cared for by relatives. Salman and Mateen were married in the Bay Area, where Salman grew up, in 2011, and later moved to Fort Pierce, Florida, where they had their son. In December, SFist learned that Salman had filed a petition in court in Contra Costa County to have her son's name legally changed — he currently has his father's surname, and Omar for a middle name.

She was arrested Monday and taken into custody as Santa Rita jail in Dublin, pending the unsealing of the indictment against her.

Previously: FBI Arrests Noor Salman, Widow Of Orlando Shooter, Outside San Francisco

The families of three of the people killed in the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June — Tevin Eugene Crosby, Juan Guerrero, and Javier Jorge-Reyes — filed suit this week in federal court in Detroit against tech giants Google, Twitter, and Facebook, contending that the three companies facilitated "the explosive growth of ISIS," and "knowingly and recklessly provided the terrorist group ISIS with accounts to use its social networks as a tool for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds, and attracting new recruits." As Reuters notes, such suits — of which this is not the first of its kind — have "faced an uphill fight because of strong protections in U.S. federal law for the technology industry."

As the Washington Post explains, the suit not only contends that the three companies provided material support to terrorists like shooter Omar Mateen, but that they indirectly profited from ISIS postings and accounts "through advertising revenue."

It's been well established, including by statements from Mateen's wife, that Mateen often viewed jihadist content on YouTube.

Read the text of the entire filing here.

A similar lawsuit was filed against the same three companies this past June by Reynaldo Gonzalez, the father of 23-year-old student Nohemi Gonzalez who was killed in the terrorist attack in Paris last November.

Another case against Twitter noted by the Washington Post, filed by families of two US government contractors who were victims of an attack in Jordan, was dismissed by a federal judge in Northern California last month at Twitter's request. The judged dismissed claims that Twitter was liable either for providing accounts to ISIS members, or for allowing them a platform through which to send direct messages to each other.

Despite legal protections for technology platforms when it comes to liability for the content posted or shared by its users, lawmakers were quick to point out, following the Orlando attack, that shooter Omar Mateen was using Facebook to celebrate his act and broadcast his affiliation with ISIS while the attack, and his three-hour standoff with a SWAT team, was still underway.

Related: California Parent Of Paris Attack Victim Suing Twitter And Facebook For Providing 'Material Support' To ISIS

Three news organizations — the Associated Press, Gannett, and Vice Media — together filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday against the FBI seeking to have access to the agency's records pertaining to its contract with an unnamed iPhone security expert earlier this year. As the AP reports, the news orgs want to know both the identity of the hacker, and how much the government paid him or her.

You'll recall that back in March the FBI abruptly dropped a lawsuit they had filed against Apple seeking to force the company to hack into the iPhone 5C that belonged to deceased San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook. The government argued that they had a national security concern in finding out whether Farook had direct contact with or direction from a member of ISIS, and they tried to argue that the All Writs Act allowed them to compel a company to break its own encryption technology.

The hacker, who's never been named by the government despite requests under the Freedom of Information Act, was reportedly a "gray hat," or one who identifies as neither mischievous nor selflessly good, but one who seeks to profit from his or knowledge by selling it to governments.

It was later surmised, via a vague statement made to the New York Times by FBI chief James B. Comey Jr., that the government may have paid upwards of $1.3 million for the job, but no one has confirmed the actual contract amount.

USA Today, whose parent company is Gannett, explains that all three news organizations filing suit had tried to discover the identity of the hacker and the amount of the contract, but the FBI repeatedly refused their requests saying "revealing the records would imperil its enforcement efforts."

See the full text of the complaint here.

The case drew the attention of the technology industry, privacy advocates, and security experts worldwide because of its potentially broad-reaching implications. Apple CEO Tim Cook, responding to the government's request that the company create a new version of its operating system to circumvent the security in iOS 9, said, "Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control." He also wrote in the same response, "In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone's physical possession."

Confirming Cook's fear, after the successful hack, the FBI openly offered to help other law enforcement agencies use the tool they'd found to hack into other iPhones — though experts concluded that the hack was likely only going to be useful for iPhone 5C models with iOS 9 installed.

The exiled Edward Snowden, who via Twitter has become something of a pundit on topics of government overreach and privacy, tweeted the day that the government dropped its suit against Apple and proclaimed its own successful hack, "Journalists: please remember that [the] government argued for months that this was impossible, despite expert consensus."

Previously: Feds May Have Paid iPhone Hackers More Than $1.3 Million

On July 14, Nicolas Leslie, a 20-year-old UC Berkeley environment studies major studying French in Nice, sent a video of himself dancing at Bastille Day celebrations to his friend Mustapha Khokhar according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Fifteen minutes later, Leslie was one of 84 people run over and killed by a truck in attacks that have shaken the international community. Berkeley's office of Pubic Affairs wrote yesterday that Leslie's death was confirmed to campus officials by the FBI.

Leslie was missing as of Friday, when Berkeley officials announced that three other students of 85 visiting the area for a 15-day Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Europe conference had been injured in the attack. Vladyslav Kostiuk, 23, suffered a broken leg, Diane Huang, 20, was injured with a broken foot, and Daryus Medora, 21, broke a leg. The New York Times reports that Kostiuk and Huang have been released from hospitals while Medora is still receiving care.

Leslie grew up in Del Mar, California, and after his undergraduate years at Berkeley had plans to continue his studies at the university's Haas School of Business according to the LA Times. When he could not be contacted after the attack, Leslie's mother, an Italian, sent family to search for him in Nice area hospitals.

"All of us in the UC Berkeley family — both here on campus, and around the world — are heartbroken to learn that another promising young student has been lost to senseless violence,” a press release quote UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, who is referencing the death of sophomore Tarishi Jain, 19, killed two weeks ago in a terrorist attack in Bangladesh at a restaurant.

William Morrow, Associated Students of the University of California president, writes that a vigil is planned for Leslie today at 4:30 p.m. at Sproul Plaza. Nearly 500 students say they plan to attend according to a Facebook event listing.

Previously: Three Berkeley Students Attending Conference Injured In Nice Attack, One Missing