Man Who Threatened to Shoot at School Building so Cops Would Kill Him Sentenced to Three Years

Daniel Julio Dominguez, 32, has been sentenced to three years in prison, followed by ten years of probation, after being found guilty of intimidation. 

His probation conditions include, but are not limited to, undergoing a mental health evaluation, not going to places where children frequently congregate, and not possessing any firearms. 

Dominguez was arrested in October after he posted a video on Instagram and his website threatening to commit suicide by cop by attacking a middle school with various firearms. He clarified that he would attack the school on a Saturday or Sunday on the presumption that no children would be present.

Dominguez stated that if he successfully fired all his rounds from his rifle, he would aim a fake pistol at the police in the hopes that they would kill him. He said that he would not intend to hurt anyone.

At the end of the video, a disclaimer pops up stating, “This is a work of fiction.”

Throughout the trial, the prosecution presented an overwhelming amount of evidence against Dominguez, including several photos of various firearms and ammunition, his previous blog postings, as well as a screenshot from the Instagram post. 

The referenced blog post has Dominguez writing about what he referred to as a “Lame-O situation,” stating a girl he knew “got a young teacher fired because she wrote about her relationship with him in her personal diary, and it was used against him in court.” He uses this as reasoning to have his own disclaimer, citing its importance so “fiction stays fiction and doesn’t become evidence.” 

An investigation by reporter Alissa Gary found that Dominguez had numerous inconsistencies in his video and case. 

She found that, despite portraying his family as struggling financially, his mother and stepfather are respected educators who have shown to take frequent vacations and live in a relatively expensive home. Dominguez claimed to be financially successful but appears to have been unemployed since graduating in 2018. Dominguez moved to have a public defender without demonstrating to the judge that he can’t afford a lawyer himself. He also misrepresented his birthplace and employment history. 

Dominguez received over two dozen letters in support, vouching for his character. The letters came from people of different walks of life, and while many had different opinions on his style of art, they all agreed he wouldn’t intend to harm anyone and pointed to the disclaimer Dominguez put at the end of the video.

One of Dominguez’s family friends wrote the following in a letter to Senior Judge Peter K. Seig. He said he disagreed with many of Dominguez’s views and actions, but that prison wouldn’t be the correct answer. 

“Danny is only guilty of extremely poor judgment for his lousy choice of subject matter (especially in today's climate), but he is [not] a criminal. He is not a threat to society; he is not a danger. He is a sweet, naive, kind person who just wants to make the world better but chose a dumb, reckless way to try to make his point. Danny could probably benefit from some professional mental health therapy to help him see that, yes, the world has problems, but it's not all on him to fix them, and there's also a lot of good out there if he'd just see it. He does not deserve prison- that would destroy this genuinely decent, albeit misguided, young man. Please don't turn him into the monster some people desperately want him to be.”