The 20-year-old suspect accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home last week has been charged with attempted murder, San Francisco officials told reporters Monday.
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Key Takeaways
- San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said the suspect, Daniel Moreno-Gama, was charged with two counts of attempted murder—one linked to Altman and another linked to a security guard at Altman’s home.
- Moreno-Gama was also charged with attempted arson and multiple counts of possessing a destructive device, receiving similar charges for his alleged threat against OpenAI’s headquarters.
- Moreno-Gama’s federal charges included possession of an unregistered firearm and damage and destruction of property by means of explosives.
- U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said if further investigations show Moreno-Gama executed the attacks to change policy or coerce officials, federal prosecutors would treat his alleged actions as an act of domestic terrorism.
- Federal agents searched the Spring, Texas, home of Daniel Moreno-Gama on Monday, CBS News reported, citing two U.S. officials.
- The suspect is accused of throwing an “incendiary destructive device” at Altman’s San Francisco home, causing a fire to an exterior gate without resulting in any injuries, before fleeing on foot, according to the San Francisco Police Department.
- Moreno-Gama is also accused of making threats at OpenAI’s headquarters, where they were later arrested after “threatening to burn down the building,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
- Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department immediately responded to requests for comment from Forbes.
Crucial Quote
Altman reacted to the incident in a blog post on Friday and shared a photo of his family “in the hopes that it might dissuade the next person from throwing a Molotov cocktail at our house, no matter what they think about me.” Altman appeared to reference an “incendiary article” from the New Yorker—which days earlier published a years-long investigation into Altman, whom they depicted as an untrustworthy leader in AI—and said someone told him it came “at a time of great anxiety about AI and that it made things more dangerous for me.”
Tangent
Two more people were arrested in another incident near Altman’s home over the weekend. The two suspects are accused of driving in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood and firing shots, some of which were reportedly just outside of Altman’s property. OpenAI told Fox News the incident was unrelated and that there was no indication Altman’s home was targeted.
Key Background
OpenAI has been the target of security threats over the last year. The AI firm’s office was locked down last year after protesters reportedly “expressed interest in causing physical harm to OpenAI employees.” In February 2025, protesters at OpenAI’s headquarters were arrested after they locked the front doors of the building. Earlier this month, Iran threatened to strike a $30 billion data center in the United Arab Emirates relied on by OpenAI, as a war with the U.S. persisted.
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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