A 19-year-old Kansas City resident was arrested and appeared in court Friday in Massachusetts in connection with an arson at a Tesla dealership in Kansas City, Missouri, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs. Owen McIntire, 19, was charged with one count of malicious damage by fire of any property used in interstate commerce and one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device. McIntire is from Parkville, Missouri, but attends college in Boston. He was on spring break at the time of the fire, and investigators say flight records and cell phone GPS show that he was in Kansas City at the time of the incident. A Kansas City Police Department officer spotted a Cybertruck on fire at the Tesla dealership on State Line Road late on March 17.The fire spread to a second Cybertruck before fire crews could put it out.The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked with KCPD's Bomb and Arson Unit after determining the fire was "suspicious in nature." The affidavit says that investigators believe McIntire drove his car from his Parkville residence to Leawood, Kansas, one block west of the dealership, and walked there. He then allegedly set fire to the Cybertrucks using a Molotov cocktail before walking back to his vehicle and heading back to Parkville. "Let me be extremely clear to anyone who still wants to firebomb a Tesla property: you will not evade us," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a news release. "You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You will spend decades behind bars. It is not worth it." Witnesses reported seeing someone in the area wearing dark, flowy clothing near the dealership around the time of the fires. Surveillance video also shows this person, who is believed to be McIntire, walking around the area of the dealership. The Cybertrucks were worth $105,485 and $107,485. Two charging stations, each worth $550, were also damaged. Tesla has been a target for demonstrations and vandalism in the U.S. and elsewhere this year after CEO Elon Musk became a key figure in President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, responsible for slashing federal jobs and programs. "Crimes have consequences. The people behind these violent and dangerous attacks on private property will face decades in prison — we will not make deals and we will not negotiate," said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a news release.
A 19-year-old Kansas City resident was arrested and appeared in court Friday in Massachusetts in connection with an arson at a Tesla dealership in Kansas City, Missouri, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs.
Cybertruck fires at Kansas City Tesla dealership deemed 'suspicious in nature'
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Owen McIntire, 19, was charged with one count of malicious damage by fire of any property used in interstate commerce and one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device.
McIntire is from Parkville, Missouri, but attends college in Boston. He was on spring break at the time of the fire, and investigators say flight records and cell phone GPS show that he was in Kansas City at the time of the incident.
A Kansas City Police Department officer spotted a Cybertruck on fire at the Tesla dealership on State Line Road late on March 17.
The fire spread to a second Cybertruck before fire crews could put it out.
The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked with KCPD's Bomb and Arson Unit after determining the fire was "suspicious in nature."
The affidavit says that investigators believe McIntire drove his car from his Parkville residence to Leawood, Kansas, one block west of the dealership, and walked there. He then allegedly set fire to the Cybertrucks using a Molotov cocktail before walking back to his vehicle and heading back to Parkville.
"Let me be extremely clear to anyone who still wants to firebomb a Tesla property: you will not evade us," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a news release. "You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You will spend decades behind bars. It is not worth it."
Witnesses reported seeing someone in the area wearing dark, flowy clothing near the dealership around the time of the fires. Surveillance video also shows this person, who is believed to be McIntire, walking around the area of the dealership.
Department of Justice
The Cybertrucks were worth $105,485 and $107,485. Two charging stations, each worth $550, were also damaged.
Tesla has been a target for demonstrations and vandalism in the U.S. and elsewhere this year after CEO Elon Musk became a key figure in President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, responsible for slashing federal jobs and programs.
"Crimes have consequences. The people behind these violent and dangerous attacks on private property will face decades in prison — we will not make deals and we will not negotiate," said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a news release.
