A man afraid of Google tracking attacked the Googleplex, torched Street View/self-driving cars

According to Mercury News, a man behind a series of attacks on Google’s Mountain View campus was charged with arson last week. Fearing that Google was tracking and watching him, Raul Murillo Diaz threw Molotov cocktails at a Street View vehicle, shot the windows of several buildings, and possibly burned a self-driving car.

After being arrested on June 30 near the Googleplex with a weapons case and a crude pipe bomb, the 30-year old Diaz told officers that “he felt Google was watching him and that made him upset.” He claimed to maintain journals with entries on when Google was watching him.

Last week, Diaz was charged with arson by federal prosecutors and is currently being held without bail. Diaz was spotted by a Google employee on May 19 throwing two Molotov cocktails at a Street View car. Two broken bottles and scorched ground were later found by police, but there was no actual damage to the vehicle.

Police are currently looking for more details about two other incidents likely perpetrated by Diaz. On June 4, police found broken glass and five holes in windows at different Google buildings on the campus. Security footage spotted Diaz’s SUV at the scene of this crime and in the previous May 19th torching.

A figure assumed to be Diaz was also seen carrying a flammable liquid-filled squirt gun on June 10 with emergency personnel later responding to a self-driving car on fire. Google says a self-driving car was not involved, but the vehicle was ultimately destroyed.