The Justice Department announced Friday that a 19-year-old college student has been arrested for allegedly using two homemade Molotov cocktails to set fire to two Tesla Cybertrucks at a Tesla Center in Kansas City. The suspect, Owen McIntire, faces one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device and one count of malicious damage by fire to property used in interstate commerce.
The FBI identified McIntire—who attends college in Boston—through surveillance footage and cell phone data linking him to the arson, The Daily Wire reported. “Let me be extremely clear to anyone who still wants to firebomb a Tesla property: you will not evade us,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You will spend decades behind bars. It is not worth it.”
On March 17, a police officer spotted smoke near the Kansas City Tesla showroom and discovered a Cybertruck on fire. While the officer was able to extinguish flames outside the vehicle, the fire had already engulfed the Cybertruck and spread to a second vehicle. Both vehicles, valued at over $100,000 each, were destroyed. According to a probable cause affidavit, surveillance footage from nearby homes captured a suspect near the scene wearing “dark flowy clothing and a large, white-colored hat,” who investigators believe to be McIntire. The FBI later linked McIntire to the crime through matching surveillance footage, witness accounts, and the vehicle seen in the area.
McIntire is accused of carrying out the attack while home on spring break from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Tesla dealerships and vehicles nationwide have faced vandalism and arson amid backlash over Elon Musk’s role in the Department of Government Efficiency. The Justice Department is treating these incidents as acts of domestic terrorism.
“This is the second arrest this week of a suspect charged with targeting Tesla, more proof that the FBI will not stand for these destructive acts,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “These actions are dangerous, they are illegal, and we are going to arrest those responsible.” On Monday, the Justice Department announced the arrest of 40-year-old Jamison Wagner in connection with arson attacks on the Republican Party headquarters and a Tesla showroom in New Mexico. If convicted, Wagner faces up to 40 years in prison.