A San Fernando Valley man who plotted to bomb a 2019 right-wing political rally in Long Beach was sentenced Monday to 25 years in federal prison.
Mark Steven Domingo, 28, of Reseda, was found guilty by a federal jury of one count of providing material support to terrorists and one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
Domingo has been held in federal custody since his arrest in April 2019.
According to prosecutors, posts he made to an online forum in which he expressed support for political violence prompted an investigation into his activities. Specifically, Domingo sought revenge for attacks against Muslims and indicated a willingness to die as a “martyr.”
Investigators said Domingo was specifically inspired by the March 2019 terrorist attack on a New Zealand mosque.
Domingo reportedly considered attacking Jewish and Christian religious congregations, as well as members of law enforcement, before settling on a plan to bomb the rally in Long Beach.
He unknowingly had coordinated his plot with an FBI informant in furtherance of the plot. Through that informant, he was connected with a bombmaker—in reality, an undercover law enforcement officer. He purchased several hundred three-and-a-half inch nails to be used as shrapnel for the bombs, and reportedly told the informant he selected those nails because they were long enough to penetrate organs in the human body.
In April 2019, Domingo drove the informant and undercover officer to Long beach to scout the location where he planned his attack. There, Domingo said he wanted to find the most crowded areas to place the bombs, with the aim of killing the highest number of people possible. A few days later, he received what he thought were two live bombs, but were in fact inert explosive devices delivered by the undercover officer. He was arrested that same day with one of the inoperable bombs in his hands.
At trial, Domingo repeatedly testified he intended to commit mass murder, according to prosecutors.
“This defendant planned a mass-casualty terrorist attack and repeatedly admitted at trial that he had a desire to kill as many people as possible,” said Acting United States Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison. “Had this bombing been successful, many innocent people would have been murdered, yet this defendant has shown no remorse for his conduct, nor has he renounced the extremist ideology that motivated his horrific plot.”
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