Kansas City teen arrested, charged in connection with arson at Tesla dealership
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A Kansas City teenager was arrested and made his initial court appearance Friday in Massachusetts as he faces federal charges related to an arson incident at a Tesla dealership in Kansas City, Missouri.
Police said 19-year-old Owen McIntire, a Kansas City resident attending college in Boston, is charged with one count of unlawful possession of an uned destructive device and one count of malicious damage by fire of any property used in interstate commerce.
Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a warning to others considering committing similar crimes.
“Let me be extremely clear to anyone who still wants to firebomb a Tesla property: you will not evade us,” said Bondi. “You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You will spend decades behind bars. It is not worth it.”
An affidavit filed in of the federal criminal complaint said Kansas City, Missouri Police Department officers reported smoke coming from a grey Cybertruck in the KC Tesla Center just after 11:15 p.m. on Thursday, March 17.
KD also saw a Molotov cocktail near the burning Cybertruck. The fire from that vehicle spread to another Cybertruck in the parking lot.
The FBI said McIntire committed the crime while home from college on spring break. The Cybertrucks had sale prices of between $105,000 and $107,500. Two charging stations were also damaged by the fire, each valued at approximately $550.
One month later, people who live down the street from the Tesla dealership are ing chaos that came to their doorstep.
“I don’t have a problem with anyone standing in front of the Tesla dealership on city property and protesting but again I don’t believe you can destroy someone’s property or attempt to destroy their business because you don’t believe in them politically,” said Mary Kowalski.
“I didn’t know until I went by the next day and saw the fire tarps over the trucks,” she said.
Kowalski said she believes the federal charges are justified.
“I’ve done a lot of protesting in my life. I believe in peaceful protest. I believe in voting. I believe in nonviolent protest but do not believe in arson. It’s not okay,” she said.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean Foley and Trey Alford for the Western District of Missouri and Trial Attorney Patrick Cashman of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case.
The FBI Kansas City and Boston Field Offices, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department are investigating the case.
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