Ex-Navy SEAL Convicted of Plotting Explosives Attack on Police at 2025 'No Kings' Protest

A federal jury convicted a former U.S. Navy SEAL of plotting to attack police officers with explosives at a California "No Kings" protest, closing out a case that started with a suspicious purchase at a New Mexico gas station.

Gregory Vandenberg, 49, was found guilty of transportation of explosives with intent to kill, injure or intimidate, and attempted transportation of prohibited fireworks into California, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico. Jurors deliberated roughly three hours before returning the verdict after a five-day trial.

What happened at the travel center

Prosecutors said Vandenberg was driving from El Paso, Texas, toward San Diego ahead of the June 14, 2025, demonstrations when he stopped at a travel center near Lordsburg, New Mexico. He bought six mortar-style fireworks and 72 M-150 firecrackers.

While checking out, Vandenberg told a store clerk he planned to throw the explosives at law enforcement officers during the protests, according to federal authorities. He reportedly pressed the clerk on how much gunpowder was in the fireworks and whether taping several mortars together would boost their explosive force. Prosecutors said he made clear his only interest was their capacity to injure officers.

Vandenberg also allegedly urged the clerk to come to the protests and hand out fireworks to other attendees, telling the employee his own military background meant he wouldn't get hurt.

That conversation was enough to spook store employees. They wrote down his license plate and called law enforcement before he ever reached California.

How he was caught

Federal agents traced Vandenberg to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, where they arrested him the next morning as he slept in his vehicle. Prosecutors said he lied to investigators, first claiming he was traveling for work despite being unemployed, then changing his story to say he was visiting friends in Phoenix.

A search of his vehicle turned up the fireworks along with clothing carrying antisemitic, anti-Israel and extremist imagery, according to prosecutors. Court evidence, as detailed by the New York Post, included a shirt bearing an Al-Qaeda flag, a shirt calling for the destruction of "Judea," a hat with the Al-Qaeda flag, and apparel displaying a version of the Black Sun, a symbol tied to neo-Nazi ideology.

Jurors also saw photos of Vandenberg wearing a custom shirt reading "AMALEK" while inside the travel center. Prosecutors said Vandenberg told investigators the word meant "destroyer of Jews."

Investigators additionally found a Taliban flag set as the home screen on Vandenberg's phone. A forensic review of the device turned up what prosecutors described as violent extremist content, including antisemitic, anti-Israel and anti-U.S. material, plus messages discussing the upcoming protests. According to prosecutors, those messages indicated Vandenberg believed the U.S. government, including President Donald Trump, was controlled by Israel and Jewish people.

An unusual profile for this kind of case

A former Navy SEAL allegedly planning to attack police at a protest against the current administration doesn't fit any tidy political narrative. The extremist material recovered, antisemitic slogans, Al-Qaeda and Taliban imagery, neo-Nazi symbolism, and stated hostility toward the sitting president reads as an incoherent ideological mix rather than a clean partisan motive. Nothing in the court record as reported ties Vandenberg's plan to any organized protest group, and no evidence suggests the "No Kings" demonstrators or organizers had any knowledge of his intentions. He appears to have targeted the event as a gathering point for law enforcement, not out of alignment with the protest's cause.

This was one individual with a documented history of extremist material on his phone, caught before he could act, largely because of an alert store clerk rather than a coordinated intelligence effort. That outcome reflects ordinary vigilance rather than evidence of a broader plot or network. No sources indicate additional suspects or co-conspirators.

What's next

Vandenberg faces sentencing on the explosives and fireworks charges following his conviction. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico has not released a sentencing date in the material reviewed here. Given the intent-to-injure-law-enforcement charge alone, federal sentencing guidelines typically carry a significant mandatory range, though the exact term will depend on the judge's findings at sentencing. No additional arrests or related charges tied to this case have been reported.