A Santa Maria man pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday to bombing the Central Coast city’s courthouse in 2024 in an attempt to kill sheriff’s deputies and a judge in retaliation for local law enforcement seizing his firearms.
On Sept. 25, 2024, Nathaniel James McGuire walked into the Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria with a lit fuse and threw a backpack past security, which slid between a person’s legs and exploded outside a courtroom, according to a plea deal signed Tuesday.
He then left the building to grab a shotgun, a rifle and 10 Molotov cocktails from his Ford Mustang with the intent to re-enter the courthouse to kill sheriff’s deputies and “splatter” a judge, the plea deal said…