PINOLE — Hundreds of people turned out Friday to say goodbye to Dave Patrick Underwood, the Federal Protective Services officer who was gunned down in late May, in what authorities have called targeted violence against law enforcement by affiliates of an extremist libertarian movement.
Mourners that included Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf filled the gym at Pinole Valley High School to memorialize Underwood, who was killed the night of May 29 during the George Floyd protests in Oakland. Underwood’s partner was also hit by gunfire, and survived the attack despite serious injuries.
Underwood, a Pinole native, is remembered by friends and family as a caring, soft spoken man who left a lasting impression. As youth, he attended Pinole Valley High, and excelled at basketball and baseball, according to childhood friends. He became a contract officer for the FPS of the Department of Homeland Security, and was assigned to protect the Ronald V. Dellums Building in downtown Oakland, where he was killed.
“He was an outstanding man,” Dave Underwood’s sister, Angela Underwood Jacobs, told reporters outside the memorial. “So many people have reached out and told us how he’s helped them in their lives. And he was such a humble guy, he wasn’t a person who would go around and talk about what he had done, he just did it…That’s what I think the most about my brother. I miss him so much.”
Dave Underwood’s alleged killer, Steven Carrillo, targeted the officers simply because they were wearing police uniforms, according to the FBI. A week after the shooting, Carrillo allegedly ambushed Santa Cruz deputies at his home in the unincorporated town of Ben Lomond. Carrillo allegedly murdered Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, critically injured another deputy, and shot a third officer in the hand.
Carrillo — who now faces state and federal death penalty charges in both Gutzwiller and Underwood’s killings — had an affinity for the so-called Boogaloo movement, an extremist, loosely organized faction that sees itself as a catalyst for a second American Civil War that they believe is on the horizon. Carrillo allegedly murdered Underwood with an accomplice, Robert Justus, after meeting him through a Facebook group. Justus is accused of driving Carrillo’s white van and conducting on-foot surveillance before the shooting.
Federal authorities say the two “came to Oakland to kill cops,” and took advantage of George Floyd protests going on the night of May 29, which drew a heavy police presence, to commit the shooting and leave Oakland undetected.
“I know if I were talking to him right now, what he would say for all of us here today and across America is to stay strong,” Angela Underwood Jacobs said. “Stay strong and focus on love, peace, and unity.”
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