Man sentenced for protest blast that injured Oakland police

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A man who supplied a homemade explosive device that was thrown during an Oakland protest, injuring 10 police officers, has been sentenced to 2 ½ years in federal prison.

Twenty-three-year-old Giovonni Gaines was sentenced Thursday. He pleaded guilty in April to possessing an unregistered firearm.

In his plea agreement, Gaines said he bought the device from someone in his Oakland neighborhood and took it with him to a July 2018 protest. Authorities described it as a powerful firecracker wrapped in copper sheeting.

About 1,000 people were demonstrating over the stabbing death of 18-year-old Nia Wilson at a BART station a day earlier. Police moved in when fighting broke out in the crowd.

Gaines said he lit the bomb and handed it to a 13-year-old boy to throw at officers.