Bay Area man convicted of killing two cops wants you to know he’s not a snitch

Steven Carrillo, 35, gave an interview to prison officials while two FBI agents were present, but his attorney says he was tricked into the interview and won't testify at the trial for another accused Boogaloo cop killer.

OAKLAND — A former U.S. Air Force sergeant convicted of murdering two law enforcement officers in separate ambush-style attacks in 2020 is now apparently concerned that a recent court filing will damage his reputation in prison.

Attorneys for Steven Carrillo, who pleaded guilty to murdering Federal Protective Services Officer David Patrick Underwood in Oakland and Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller in Ben Lomond, filed a recent court document pushing back against statements made by Carrillo’s co-defendant in the Underwood murder case. The attorneys for Robert Allan Justus, who is set for trial in September, claimed Carrillo gave a recent FBI interview regarding Underwood’s killing.

Both murders were motivated by Carrillo and Jutus’ ties to the so-called Boogaloo Movement, a loosely organized anti-government group that believes a second Civil War is imminent.

The recent opposing court filings demonstrate just how far Carrillo and Justus have fallen out of favor with one another, three years after the two allegedly met up at an Alameda County BART station and drove to Oakland to murder police officers while many law enforcement personnel were monitoring a large protest over the murder of George Floyd.

According to the indictment, Justus drove Carrillo’s white van while Carrillo fired a homemade assault rifle at a security booth next to the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in downtown Oakland, killing Underwood and wounding his partner.

Days later, in Ben Lomond, Carrillo opened fire at several Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies, killing Gutzwiller and wounding three other officers. Carrillo was arrested later that day, and in June 2022 pleaded guilty to both crimes. Charges against Justus are still pending.

Now, Carrillo’s lawyer, James Thomson, wrote in a rebuttal filing that Carrillo believed he was being interviewed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and wasn’t aware the FBI agents were present. Thomson added that Carrillo will not only refuse to testify for the government, but that he wouldn’t take the stand to help Justus out either.

“The CDCR staff member introduced himself to Mr. Carrillo as being a CDCR staff member,” Thomson wrote. “The two FBI Special Agents provided their names but did not introduce themselves as FBI Special Agents. Mr. Carrillo believed they were with the CDCR. He was not aware they were FBI Special Agents.”

The filing by Justus’ lawyers says that federal prosecutors recently made them aware of two statements by “two incarcerated witnesses,” including Carrillo and a second man who is not identified. It doesn’t describe Carrillo’s statement to the FBI in detail.

“The government has declined to state whether it will or will not call Mr. Carrillo as a witness at trial,” Justus’ lawyers, Richard Novak and Shaffy Moeel, wrote in the motion. “Mr. Justus must therefore assume that it will and plan his defense accordingly.”

Thomson rebutted that the other attorneys’ “loose language has the potential of having Mr. Carrillo labeled as a cooperator.”

“Counsels’ actions are inexcusable at best, and dangerous or lethal at worst,” he added.

Carrillo, 35, is currently incarcerated in Mule Creek State Prison in Amador County. It is a place dedicated to inmates with “sensitive needs” — a prison term for protective custody — and currently houses other well-known murderers, like Scott Peterson. It’s also where notorious California serial killer Roger Kibbe was strangled by his cellmate, who told this newspaper he planned the killing.

Ironically, the FBI says that it was a statement given by Justus days after both murders that helped authorities identify Carrillo as a suspect in Underwood’s murder. After Carrillo was arrested for killing Gutzwiller several days after Underwood’s death, Justus allegedly had his mom drive him to an FBI building in San Francisco and painted himself as a not-so-willing participant to the Underwood homicide, describing how Carrillo came off as menacing after Justus got into the van.

The two met on a Boogaloo-affiliated Facebook group, and prosecutors allege that Justus continued to “like” Carrillo’s Facebook posts after the murder, suggesting he wasn’t so turned off by what had happened after all. Justus’ attorneys are now trying to convince a judge not to allow a government expert witness to testify about the Boogaloo movement’s history and beliefs. More contentious pretrial motions are expected to follow.

Justus’ trial has been set for Sept. 6.