SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - The arsonist who rammed his car into the Raytheon building and set fire to a La Jolla home learned his sentence Tuesday.
Daniel Mackinnon, 37, will spend seven years in prison for crimes the Assistant U.S. Attorney described as “politically-motivated.”
Early on the morning of Apr. 24, Mackinnon went to the home of a prominent real estate developer. Two adults and three small children were home asleep at the time, prosecutors said.
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Mackinnon “poured an accelerant onto the door and ignited it,” officials said. “Investigators found remnants of a plastic water bottle, a pry bar and a bottle cap at the scene.”
DNA evidence from the bottle cap helped tie Mackinnon to the crime. There were no reports of any injuries.
Later the same morning, Mackinnon drove into the Kearny Mesa offices of Raytheon, a defense contractor. The car bounced back, and Mackinnon got out, opening his back hatch, prosecutors said. Moments later, flames erupted from the back of the car and damaged the office building.
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Mackinnon drove into Mexico but was arrested the same day as he tried to re-enter the United States at the Otay Mesa port of entry.
Prosecutors did not provide details about the political motivation for Mackinnon’s crimes. He had previously committed petty crimes in the early 2000s, including “remaining at the scene of a riot after being arrested at a Southern Kalifornia Anarchist Alliance May Day demonstration,” officials said.
Mackinnon faced a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
