Spring man accused of firebombing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's house charged with attempted murder

Authorities offered new details Monday on a Spring man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at the home of Open AI CEO Sam Altman, hours after the agency searched Daniel Moreno-Gama's home in the Houston area.  

The Justice Department on Monday charged 20-year-old Moreno-Gama with possession of an unregistered firearm and damage and destruction of property by means of explosives. The San Francisco District Attorney's Office, meanwhile, charged Moreno-Gama with two counts of attempted murder and possession of a destructive device, among other charges.

An FBI spokesperson on Monday morning confirmed agents were executing a search warrant in Spring. FOX News was the first to report the search was being conducted at Moreno-Gama's family's home. The federal charges were first reported by the Associated Press.

MORE ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Police arrest a suspect in a Molotov attack at OpenAI CEO's San Francisco home

Moreno-Gama was accused throwing a firebomb at the gate of Altman's home and making threats at the AI company's headquarters.

The resulting fire at Altman's home burned itself out before emergency responders arrived. Moreno-Gama fled on foot and was arrested later in the morning when he arrived at the company's building, according to police.

Details from FBI agent's complaint

When Moreno-Gama was arrested Friday, he was carrying a document that “identified views opposed to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the executives of various AI companies," the Associated Press reported. 

Moreno-Gama traveled from Texas to California on or around April 10, an FBI agent wrote in a complaint. The agent wrote that Moreno-Gama threw a destructive device at two residences owned by Altman and later attempted to set fire to OpenAI's building.

The complaint includes screen grabs of a video that show a man standing a short distance from a gate and throwing a lit bottle toward it.

Moreno-Gama was later arrested outside the office building when he attempted to break a glass window with a chair, according to the complaint. After he was arrested, police found he had incendiary devices, a jug of kerosene and a lighter in his possession, as well as the anti-AI note.

The note appeared to match an email that Moreno-Gama had sent other people earlier in the day, outlining his views on AI and his thoughts on tech CEOs, including Altman, who founded OpenAI in 2019, according to the FBI.

In part of the document, Moreno-Gama claimed that he "killed/attempt to kill" Altman.

"If I am going to advocate for others to kill and commit crimes, then I must lead by example and show that I am fully sincere in my message," he wrote, according to the complaint. The note had a list of addresses for board members and executives for other AI companies.

While Moreno-Gama was charged with possession of an unregistered firearm, the complaint clarifies that he's being charged under the section of the law related to destructive devices, including explosives.

Monday FBI search of Moreno-Gama's Woodlands home

Moreno-Gama has no criminal history in Harris or Montgomery counties, according to public records. His family has owned their home in The Woodlands, which has a Spring address, since 2019, according to appraisal records.

Streets around the single-family home on Camberwell Court were blocked on Monday morning, said a resident who could not access the neighborhood while authorities were in the area. 

"The whole neighborhood is really peaceful and quiet," said Stephen Green, who lives several houses down from Moreno-Gama's home. "The most action we see is families walking or playing with their kids, so this is not event close to the type of thing we usually ever deal with."

Agents had left the cul-de-sac by 1 p.m. It was unclear if they removed any items from the house. After the search ended, one or two neighbors came outside to see what was going on, but the street was otherwise quiet.

San Francisco officials decry 'incendiary rhetoric'

San Francisco officials called the Texas search "very important," but didn't say what was found at the house during a Monday afternoon news conference. A copy of the search warrant wasn't available at that time.

Moreno-Gama authored a Substack blog that included several essays about his concerns over artificial intelligence and was a member of the Discord server PauseAI, an activist group focused on banning the development of the most powerful AI models to protect the public, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

In six posts this year, Moreno-Gama wrote that he was concerned artificial intelligence would lead to the extinction of humanity, according to the newspaper.

“These machines have already shown themselves to be unaligned with the interest of the people creating them,” he wrote in one post. “Models have often been found lying, cheating on tasks, and blackmailing their own creators whenever convenient; let alone the broader question of aligning them to whatever general ‘human interest’ may be.”

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jennings said the charges brought against Moreno-Gama showed the "extreme danger" he presented to public safety. She also lamented the rhetoric that may have been connected to the attack.

"This should be a moment where our nation reflects on the often incendiary rhetoric that is being use in discussions about artificial intelligence and its future impacts on our society," Jennings said. "In no way should we be at the point where a man could have lost his life over differences of opinion."

Moreno-Gama attended Lone Star College in Montgomery County, officials said during the news conference. It was unclear if he was still a student there. College officials didn't respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Moreno-Gama was still in custody in California on Monday. He was expected to make his first court appearance on Tuesday. 

Catherine Dominguez and Sondra Hernandez contributed reporting.