According to a report from The Mercury News, Raul Murillo Diaz was arrested on suspicion of involvement in a string of attacks against a Google-owned building in Mountain View.
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The attacks are believed to be part of a series of incidents that have taken place at Google offices since May, when on May 19th a Google employee reported someone throwing bottles modified into Molotov cocktails in a Google-owned parking lot. The 30-year-old is charged with one count of arson in connection with an attempted firebombing of a Google vehicle used to map streets.
Diaz allegedly kept journals tracking his suspicions of Google watching him.
He is also suspected of firing projectiles at Google HQ from office windows. The suspect was unsuccessful at the time and only the ground around the vehicle sustained fire damage. Google says a self-driving auto was not involved, but the vehicle was ultimately destroyed. Both explosives mostly burned the surrounding ground, but did little damage to the vehicle.
The second incident happened June 4 at about 11:30 p.m., federal authorities said. He allegedly sprayed the fuel onto one of the company’s prototype self-driving cars and then lit the fire. That vehicle was destroyed. Surveillance footage collected from each scene reportedly showed the same 2004 Volkswagen Tourareg, the same auto that Diaz drives. Next to Diaz, officers spotted a cylindrical object with wires coming out, which they believed could be a pipe bomb. Bomb squad detectives said the bomb was in a nonworking state but required only flash powder or a flammable substance to be functional. He mentioned Larry Page, Facebook and Google numerous times to investigators, court records show.
Diaz was detained and interviewed by ATF agents later in the morning, when he confessed to two arsons and a shooting at a Google building, Nuttall said.
The case is now being investigated by ATF officials.
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He is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
