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UMass Boston student arrested for allegedly firebombing Tesla dealership

Owen McIntire, 19, is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at Cybertrucks in a dealership parking lot in Kansas City, Missouri.

April 19, 2025

2 minutes to read

A UMass Boston student is facing federal charges after allegedly using Molotov cocktails to firebomb a Tesla dealership in Kansas City, Missouri, while home for spring break, federal officials announced Friday.

Owen McIntire, 19, a resident of Kansas City, was arrested without incident Friday and appeared in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts later that day. According to the criminal complaint, filed in the Western District of Missouri and unsealed Friday, McIntire 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.

There has been a recent rash of attacks on Tesla vehicles across the U.S., allegedly carried out by those angry at Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk’s part in the Trump administration’s effort to cut the federal workforce and government spending. According to federal investigators, McIntire’s arrest is the second this week of a suspect charged with targeting Tesla.

“Peacefully protesting is protected activity. Arson and destruction of property are violent crimes,” said James Crowley, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. “Today, the FBI and ATF arrested Owen McIntire for allegedly arming himself with a dangerous incendiary device and launching it, under the cloak of darkness, at a Tesla dealership in Kansas City, Missouri.”

Crowley added, “There are productive ways to express your desire for change, but violence will never be one of them. FBI Boston’s Joint Terrorism Task Force will continue to work with our law enforcement partners across the country to bring those responsible for violent acts to justice.”

Investigators say the alleged arson happened on the night of March 17. According to the criminal complaint, a police officer noticed smoke coming from a gray Cybertruck parked in the Kansas City Tesla Center parking lot. The officer also saw “an unbroken suspected incendiary device,” also known as a Molotov cocktail, near the burning Cybertruck, the complaint said.

Police recovered the device, but the fire spread from the Cybertruck to a second Cybertruck in the lot. The Kansas City Fire Department responded to the scene and extinguished the fire. No injuries were reported.

Investigators say the Cybertrucks had sale prices of $105,485 and $107,485. The fire also damaged two charging stations, each valued at around $550.

In a statement Friday, Attorney General Pamela Bondi said, “Let me be extremely clear to anyone who still wants to firebomb a Tesla property: you will not evade us. You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You will spend decades behind bars. It is not worth it.”

Federal agents did not specify where McIntire attended school, but a UMass Boston spokesperson confirmed he is enrolled at the university.

“Per its standard protocol, Campus Police reviewed and confirmed the agents were acting on an authorized warrant signed by a United States Magistrate Judge and accompanied them as they executed the warrant,” Karen Ferrer-Muñiz, UMass Boston’s vice chancellor for student affairs, said in a message to the campus community. “The student was arrested without incident and is now in federal custody. The university will have no comment on the ongoing federal criminal investigation.”