A federal jury convicted an Army veteran from Reseda for attempting to bomb a Long Beach white supremacist rally at Bluff Park in April 2019.
Mark Steven Domingo, 28, was found guilty on the fifth day of trial in Los Angeles federal court of providing material support to terrorism and attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction, according to the U.S.Attorney’s Office.
As a result of the guilty verdicts, Domingo faces up to life in federal prison. Domingo, who has been in federal custody since his arrest in 2019, is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson on Nov. 1.
The investigation into Domingo was prompted by his online posts and conversations in an online forum in which he expressed support for violent jihad, a desire to seek retribution for attacks against Muslims and a willingness to become a martyr.
Domingo didn’t care whom he killed, he just wanted “more bodies,” he told FBI agents after his arrest. Plus, he explained, setting off explosions during a clash between far-right and far-left activists could create more chaos.
“You know the media gets into hysteria, plays the blame game. Oh, ‘this side did it,’ no ‘this side did it,’” he told FBI agents in an interview. “Then the [expletive] normies eat it up as they will, as they do. They do. They eat that [expletive] like [expletive] candy.”
After considering various attacks—including targeting Jewish people, churches, and police officers—Domingo decided to bomb a rally scheduled to take place in Long Beach.
As part of the plot, Domingo asked an accomplice—who actually was working with the FBI as part of the investigation—to invite a bomb-maker into the scheme.
Domingo then purchased and provided to the accomplice and the bomb-maker—who in fact was an undercover law enforcement officer— several hundred 3 1/2-inch nails to be used as shrapnel for the bombs. Domingo specifically chose those nails because they were long enough to penetrate organs in the human body.
Leading up to the attack, Domingo called for another event similar to the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. Following an attack on Muslims in New Zealand in March 2019, Domingo called for retribution in an online post.
Domingo selected the Long Beach rally as his target and, in April 2019, drove his accomplice and the undercover officer to Long Beach to scout the location he planned to attack.
While there, Domingo discussed finding the most crowded areas so he could kill the most people. On April 26, 2019, Domingo received what he thought were two live bombs, but were actually inert explosive devices delivered by an undercover law enforcement officer. He was arrested that same day with one of the bombs in his hands.
Domingo’s defense attorney, Lisa S. LaBarre, told jurors on the first day day of trial that Domingo’s father died of cancer when he was 5 years old, and his mother abandoned him to be raised by his grandmother, who resented the responsibility.
As a teenager, she said, Domingo found his mother’s diary, where she’d written about his younger brother—not Domingo—being her reason to live.
Imagine, LaBarre said, “She’s rejected you and even put it in writing.”
So, Domingo joined the U.S. Army in hopes of finding some kind of family, according to LaBarre.
Trial begins for man charged with planning terrorist bombing at Bluff Park