San Fernando Valley Man Found Guilty in Terror Plot to Bomb a Rally in Long Beach | OPA

A federal jury convicted a California man today for attempting to bomb a rally in Long Beach for the purpose of causing mass casualties.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Mark Steven Domingo, 28, of Reseda, was found guilty of providing material support to terrorism and attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction. The investigation into Domingo was prompted by his online posts and conversations in an online forum in which he expressed support for violent jihad, a desire to seek retribution for attacks against Muslims and a willingness to become a martyr. After considering various attacks – including targeting Jewish people, churches and police officers – Domingo decided to bomb a rally scheduled to take place in Long Beach in April 2019.

As part of the plot, Domingo asked a confederate – who was working with the FBI as part of the investigation – to invite a bomb-maker into the scheme. Domingo then purchased and provided to the confederate and the bomb-maker – who in fact was an undercover law enforcement officer – several hundred 3½-inch nails to be used as shrapnel for the bombs. Domingo specifically chose those nails because they were long enough to penetrate organs in the human body.

Leading up to the attack, Domingo called for another event like the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. Following an attack on Muslims in New Zealand in March 2019, Domingo called for retribution in an online post.

Domingo selected the Long Beach rally as his target and, in April 2019, drove his confederate and the undercover officer to Long Beach to scout the location he planned to attack. While there, Domingo discussed finding the most crowded areas so he could kill the most people. On April 26, 2019, Domingo received what he thought were two live bombs, but were inert explosive devices delivered by an undercover law enforcement officer. He was arrested that same day with one of the bombs in his hands.

Domingo was convicted of providing material support to terrorism and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 1 and faces a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, Los Angeles Police Department, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Long Beach Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Reema M. El-Amamy and David T. Ryan of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and Trial Attorneys Lauren Goddard and Joshua Champagne of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case.