Sam Altman's San Francisco home hit by a Molotov cocktail and, two days later, by gunfire

2026-04-10★★★policy-safetyOpenAIconfidence: high

Around 4 a.m. on Friday April 10, 2026 a man threw a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's San Francisco home, setting fire to an exterior gate; about an hour later he was arrested outside OpenAI's headquarters, where police say he threatened to burn the building. Prosecutors say documents he carried expressed anti-AI views. Early on Sunday April 12 shots were fired from a vehicle at the same house; police arrested two people but said it was unclear whether the home was deliberately targeted. No one was hurt in either incident.

Key facts

Molotov attack: ~4 a.m. Friday April 10, 2026; an 'incendiary destructive device' set fire to an exterior gate; no injuries (ABC News)
About an hour later the suspect was arrested outside OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters; ABC News reports he carried kerosene, a lighter and more incendiary devices and threatened to burn the building
Suspect named by police and prosecutors (ABC News, CNN): Daniel Moreno-Gama, 20, from Texas. State charges include two counts of attempted murder, attempted arson and possession of an incendiary device (19 years to life); federal charges for attempted destruction of property by explosives and possession of an unregistered firearm. The FBI searched a home in Spring, Texas linked to him
Court records quoted by ABC News: documents found on him expressed anti-AI sentiment; San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins called it 'very clear that this was a targeted attack'. His public defender attributed it to 'an acute mental health crisis'
May 5, 2026: he pleaded not guilty to the state attempted-murder charges and, separately, to a federal grand-jury indictment; the defense asked for a mental-health evaluation (AP via NBC Bay Area, Courthouse News)
Gunfire: early Sunday April 12, 2026 shots were fired from a vehicle at the house; SFPD arrested two people (25 and 23) at another San Francisco residence and seized three firearms; police said it was unclear whether Altman's home was targeted; no injuries (ABC7)
Altman responded with a blog post on April 10 calling for de-escalation: 'try to have fewer explosions in fewer homes, figuratively and literally' (see the linked post)
OpenAI: 'deeply appreciate how quickly SFPD responded and the support from the city in helping keep our employees safe'

What happened

In the early hours of April 10, 2026 a 20-year-old Texas man allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's San Francisco house, then went to OpenAI's headquarters, where he was arrested. Prosecutors charged him with attempted murder and federal explosives and firearms offenses and said his writings showed anti-AI motives; his lawyers point to a mental-health crisis. He pleaded not guilty on May 5, 2026. Two days after the firebombing, shots were fired at the same house from a car. Police arrested two other people and said they could not yet tell whether the house was the intended target.

Altman answered with his only 2026 personal blog post, asking people to "de-escalate the rhetoric and tactics" around AI.

ABC News re-surfaced its April story in news feeds on Oct 3, 2026, which is how it appeared in our sweep. We found no new developments in the case in October 2026. The trial outcome is not yet known to us.

Why it matters

It is the most serious act of violence against an AI leader so far linked to anti-AI views. It is often cited when people discuss the growing anti-AI backlash, and it shaped Altman's later calls to tone down AI rhetoric.

Changelog

2026-10-04: created (found via a re-dated ABC News item in the Oct 4 sweep)

People

Sam Altman

Sources (8)

id: 2026-04-10-altman-home-molotov-gunfire-attacks · updated 2026-10-04 · open in the interactive timeline