A Kansas City resident, attending college in Boston, was arrested and made his initial court appearance in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, to face federal charges related to an arson at a Tesla business in Kansas City, Missouri.
According to the criminal complaint, filed in the Western District of Missouri and unsealed, Owen McIntire, 19, is charged with one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device and one count of malicious damage by fire of any property used in interstate commerce.
“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.”
“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.
“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. We will work with our partners at the Department of Justice to hold accountable anyone who commits such crimes. I commend our FBI teams in Kansas City and Boston for their work.”
According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, on March 17, at approximately 11:16 p.m., an officer with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department (KCMOPD) in the vicinity of the Kansas City (KC) Tesla Center observed smoke coming from a grey Cybertruck parked in the KC Tesla Center parking lot.
The officer also observed an unbroken suspected incendiary device near the burning Cybertruck. KCMOPD recovered the unbroken incendiary device, also known as a Molotov cocktail. The fire spread from the Cybertruck to a second Cybertruck in the lot. The Kansas City Fire Department responded to the scene to extinguish the fire.
The Cybertrucks had sale prices of $105,485 and $107,485. Additionally, two charging stations were damaged by the fire, each of which is valued at approximately $550.
