Texas man accused of trying to kill Sam Altman in Molotov attack at his home
A Texas man has been charged with attempted murder after throwing a Molotov cocktail at the San Francisco home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, according to officials. Authorities said he later went to OpenAI’s headquarters, where he threatened to burn down the building and kill everyone inside.
Police said officers were first called at 4:12 a.m. Friday to a home in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood, where the suspect threw an incendiary device at the front of Sam Altman’s residence before fleeing on foot.
Witnesses at the scene extinguished the fire and no one was injured, according to police. Officers reviewed security footage from the home and circulated an image of the suspect across the department.
About an hour later, at 5:07 a.m., officers were called to the 1400 block of Third Street after a man was reported threatening to burn down OpenAI’s headquarters.
There, he allegedly tried to break the building’s glass doors with a chair and said he had come to burn down the location and kill everybody inside.
Officers took the suspect into custody at the scene and immediately recognized him as the same person from the earlier attack. Investigators said he had additional incendiary devices, flammable liquid and a lighter.
Daniel Moreno-Gama, 20, has been charged in connection with both incidents. FBI agents executed a search warrant at his residence in Spring, Texas as part of the investigation.
Investigators found a document at the OpenAI headquarters scene that appeared to have been written by Moreno-Gama. Authorities said it expressed opposition to artificial intelligence and AI executives and suggested the author had killed or tried to kill Altman.
The document named other AI executives, and investigators notified them as a precaution. Authorities do not currently see a specific threat to any of them.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins confirmed the writings amounted to a manifesto, but said authorities would not release them because they would not further his platform or his intent to cause harm.
In the attack at Altman’s home, state prosecutors filed attempted murder charges accusing Moreno-Gama of targeting Altman and a security guard, along with attempted arson and multiple explosives-related charges.
Prosecutors allege the attempted murders were willful, deliberate and premeditated, and included the use of a deadly weapon.
In the incident at OpenAI’s headquarters, the suspect has been charged with attempted criminal threats involving a security guard, possession or manufacture of an incendiary device with intent to commit arson, and attempted arson.
Additionally, federal prosecutors have charged Moreno-Gama with possession of an unregistered firearm and damage and destruction of property by means of explosives.
Federal authorities would treat the case as potential domestic terrorism if evidence shows Moreno-Gama carried out the attacks to influence public policy or coerce government officials or others.
Police also disclosed that a separate shooting happened early Sunday near the same Russian Hill residence, when a vehicle with two occupants drove past and gunfire broke out. No one was hit, according to officials.
Investigators later found the vehicle, served a search warrant on Taylor Street, arrested two people and seized three firearms, but said they have no evidence at this time that the shooting was connected to Friday’s case.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
