Ex-Navy SEAL planned to fire explosives at police at ‘No Kings’ rally
A former Navy SEAL with neo-Nazi beliefs faces up to 10 years in prison after being convicted of carrying fireworks across state lines to harm law enforcement at a “No to Kings” protest in San Diego, authorities said.
According to the Department of Justice, FBI agents found messages on Gregory Vandenberg’s phone stating that he was angry with President Trump because he believed the U.S. government was controlled by Israel and the Jewish people.
Prosecutors said Vandenberg, 49, planned to travel from El Paso to San Diego to release harmful fireworks at a June 14 protest.
Inside his vehicle, prosecutors said, they found T-shirts printed with a neo-Nazi symbol, the flag of the Caucasus Front militant group, an Al Qaeda flag and a Latin message that read “Jewishness must be destroyed,” among other paraphernalia depicting anti-Israeli and extremist beliefs.
FBI agents said they found clothing bearing anti-Israel slogans and neo-Nazi symbols in Gregory Vandenberg’s vehicle.
(United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico)
On June 12, Vandenberg stopped at a travel center near Lordsburg, N.M., and purchased six large mortar fireworks, as well as 72 M-150 fireworks designed to produce gunfire. Prosecutors said he repeatedly expressed a desire to use fireworks to harm law enforcement at upcoming protests in California and urged the store clerk to join him.
Vandenberg, who had no regular job and lived in his car, told the officer he had significant knowledge of explosives and had previous special operations forces experience. He said he was not concerned with the color or appearance of the fireworks, only their explosive effects and ability to harm others. He even talked about the possibility of increasing the explosive effects of fireworks by taping them together.
He was wearing a T-shirt with “Amalek” written on the front, which he said he designed specifically to mean “destroyer of the Jews.” In the Torah, Amalek mentions the descendants of Esau, who was known as the arch-enemy of the Israelites. An image of the Taliban flag appeared on his phone’s home screen, prosecutors said.
A hat bearing the calligraphy of the Al Qaeda flag was also among the evidence.
(United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico)
Authorities said he refused to identify himself and later became paranoid, asking if the store intended to follow him and falsely stating he was not from America. Shaken by the encounter, the employees wrote down his license plate and contacted the police.
Federal agents tracked Vandenberg to Tucson, Ariz., where he was arrested June 13 while sleeping in his car at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Prosecutors said he told agents that although he was unemployed, he was traveling for work and visiting friends in Phoenix.
After a five-day jury trial and nearly three hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty of carrying explosives with intent to kill, injure or intimidate and attempting to transport prohibited fireworks to California. He is being held in custody while awaiting sentencing.
US Deputy Atty. Ryan Ellison said in a statement that the decision sends the message that attempts to use violence to express one’s political beliefs will be met with federal consequences.
“People in this country are free to hold their beliefs and express them peacefully,” Ellison said. “What they are not free to do is use explosives to threaten or intimidate others. Vandenberg intended to turn explosives into a tool of intimidation.”
