A California man set for an arraignment Wednesday set off a bomb at the Santa Maria courthouse where the proceedings were scheduled to take place.
20-year-old Nathanial McGuire was set to have a hearing on charges of possessing a loaded and concealed revolver when he showed up at the courthouse with a backpack at around 9 a.m. Wednesday.
The suspect entered the building and went to the station where people are screened for weapons and threw the backpack, setting off an “improvised explosive device” that was inside it.
McGuire took off but was arrested by a court security officer, a sheriff’s deputy, and California Highway Patrol troopers.
Five people sustained non-life-threatening injuries and burns in the chaotic incident.
“All of a sudden you see the blast, and the boom, and then the smoke,” employee Andrea Castaneda recalled.
“It’s just – it was scary. It was scary.”
McGuire is now facing a slew of additional charges including attempted murder and manufacturing an explosive device.
