OAKLAND — The woman accused of driving a U-Haul truck at security personnel outside Coast Guard Island last month — moments before authorities unleashed a fusillade of bullets at the vehicle — was formally charged Tuesday in the chaotic encounter.
Bella Thompson, 26, made her first appearance in an Oakland federal courtroom, when prosecutors unsealed a single charge of assault on a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon. If convicted, Thompson could face up to 20 years in prison.
Thompson — an active member of Oakland’s queer art community, as the founder of an art collective that routinely staged open mic nights and other workshops in the East Bay — said little during the hearing. Appearing shackled in black jeans and a black hoodie, Thompson said only “Yes, your honor,” when asked if she understood the charges against her.
Minutes later, a federal public defender signaled that the incident at the center of the case “(has) been borne out of an acute mental health issue,” and asked that Thompson appear in court Monday to discuss whether she remains held by federal authorities.
“Luckily, Ms. Thompson has had a chance to stabilize over the last couple of weeks and is in a much better place,” the attorney, Kaitlyn Fryzek, said during Tuesday’s hearing. “We do think there will be a solid release plan that we’d be able to put forward to the court.”
The charges stem from an Oct. 23 incident that capped a day of unrest over the next phase of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Earlier that day, hoards of protesters confronted agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, who fired a chemical agent at the crowd and pushed people out of the way with their vehicles to access the island.
Around 10 p.m. that night, a U-Haul truck backed up on a bridge leading to the island, toward several armed security personnel who were blocking the road with their guns drawn, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Video captured by television news crews showed the security officers yelling orders at the vehicle’s driver, before firing their weapons dozens of times at the truck. The driver of the U-Haul then pulled forward and — after pausing for more than 30 seconds at the intersection of Embarcadero and Dennison Street — calmly drove away and out of view.
Thompson was treated at Highland Hospital after the shooting, and then transferred to John George Psychiatric Hospital for an evaluation, authorities say. Thompson was later booked into the Santa Rita Jail, where she was held early Tuesday morning without bail.
A bystander also was injured in the shooting. That person was later treated and released from a hospital.
That same day, Trump announced that he was calling off a planned federal “surge” that weekend, after having spoken to San Francisco’s mayor and the heads of multiple billionaire CEOs with companies headquartered in the Bay Area.
Word of Thompson’s arrest came as a shock to Sammie Vitela, a close friend since 2020.
Vitela had organized a GoFundMe page for Thompson a few days before the shooting outside Coast Guard Island, seeking money to help Thompson amid “a transitionary period, due to losing housing and income while experiencing a bipolar disorder episode.”
The fundraiser – for which $1,494 had been raised by Tuesday morning – was needed to help Thompson with food, self-care items and transportation, particularly given how Thompson didn’t have a car, and their e-bike had been stolen.
This week, Vitela couldn’t square the allegations with the person she’s known for so long, and also suggested that Thompson may have been having a mental episode at the time of the Oct. 23 incident.
“She is not a dangerous person at all,” Vitela told this news organization. “She has mental health struggles, but not anything that she’s turned violent over. She might not always make the best choices for herself, but she’s not a malicious or dangerous person. She cares about people.”
Vitela added that she was unaware of the Oct. 23 shooting until being contacted by this news outlet. All Vitela had recently heard from her friend over the past week or so was a short text exchange on Oct. 27, when Thompson said she was in a psychiatric ward and in custody. The only explanation that Thompson gave was a request for Vitela to look up “U-Haul” and “Oakland.”
“She was not in the best place,” Vitela said. “She was recovering from a manic episode, all while not having a place to live, and being car-less.”
Thompson has been active in Oakland’s queer community, having founded an entity called DIY Museum. The outfit’s website touts itself as a “queer arts collective cultivating accessible creative community” across the region.
In a 2024 profile by KQED, Thompson described getting the idea for DIY Museum while attending UCLA a few years ago. She settled in the East Bay in 2023 and worked as a substitute teacher while helping to establish the collective, which hosted open mic nights and workshops on types of art, including papermaking, bookbinding and kandi bracelet-making, the radio station reported.
DIY Museum hosted a half-dozen events a month as of summer 2024, with a focus on accessibility and inclusion, according to the KQED profile.
Vitela described Thompson as someone who “always found refuge in creating art and being with community.”
“She’s always trying to help other people,” Vitela said. “And trying to cultivate a space of art, and belonging through that.”
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at [email protected].
