UMass Boston student accused of firebombing Kansas City Tesla dealership
A UMass Boston college student allegedly spent his spring break back home in Kansas City firebombing a Tesla dealership with Molotov cocktails — a hot form of criminal political protest across the nation.
Owen McIntire, 19, of Parkville, Missouri, was arrested in and made an initial appearance in federal court in Boston Friday on charges of malicious destruction of property and unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm or destructive device, according to court records. The case will be based in the U.S. District Court for Western Missouri.
McIntire’s status was confirmed by a statement released by UMass Boston.
The case follows a pattern of such behavior by certain elements displeased by the President Trump administration and the work of his billionaire advisor Elon Musk, the owner of the automaker Tesla. This latest arrest was even commented on by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Let me be extremely clear to anyone who still wants to firebomb a Tesla property: you will not evade us,” Bondi said. “You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You will spend decades behind bars. It is not worth it.”
Kansas City Police saw smoke coming from a Tesla Cybertruck parked at the KC Tesla Center parking lot at around 11:15 p.m. on March 17. The officers were unable to put the fire out but were allegedly able to roll an “unbroken suspected incendiary device” near the burning vehicle “to preserve its evidentiary value.” The fire then spread to another Cybertruck parked nearby as well as two Tesla charging stations.
The “incendiary device” was what is known as a “molotov cocktail”: a glass bottle, which in this case was what appeared in photos to be a bottle originally for Braggs Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, filled with gasoline and then corked with a rag. The rag is then set on fire and the bottle thrown at a target. When the bottle breaks, the gasoline ignites.
Federal agents conducted an investigation which quickly located surveillance video from the area. Investigators honed in on a white crossover-style vehicle that drove by the dealership and its driver, who when exiting the vehicle could be seen “wearing dark flowy clothing and a large, white-colored hat,” according to a law enforcement affidavit filed in the case.
Further investigation identified the vehicle as a Subaru Crosstrek registered to an address owned by a relative of McIntire, who investigators then identified as the suspect.
In the affidavit, which provides highly detailed information across 20 pages on how investigators identified McIntire as the suspect, law enforcement stated that McIntire goes to college in Boston but was on spring break at the time of the offense.
Surveillance video from the airport and a review of posts on McIntire’s Instagram and Facebook profiles further confirmed the student had traveled from Boston to Kansas City at the relevant time.
