Las Vegas police have arrested a man suspected of attacking a Tesla service center earlier this month with molotov cocktails that he allegedly used to set several vehicles on fire.
Paul Hyon Kim, 36, who is in custody at the Clark county detention center, faces multiple felony counts, including suspicion of arson and destroying or injuring real or personal property, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
The incident in Las Vegas was part of a wave of high-profile attacks on Tesla dealerships amid growing frustration over Elon Musk’s powerful role in the Trump administration and efforts to gut the US government. There have been large peaceful protests outside Tesla dealerships and a boycott campaign as well as growing incidents of vandalism.
The Guardian has documented multiple incidents involving molotov cocktails as well as swastikas drawn with spray paint at Tesla facilities across the US and bullets fired through a dealership window. Almost 20 Tesla showrooms and charging stations have faced deliberate fires, the Guardian previously reported.
Earlier this month, the Tesla site in Las Vegas was subjected to what the sheriff described as a “targeted attack”. In the early morning hours, a person dressed in black threw what looked like molotov cocktails into vehicles, security cameras showed. The suspect also fired rounds of ammunition into the parked vehicles.
“Upon arrival, officers discovered several vehicles on fire, as well as the word ‘resist’ spraypainted on the front doors of the business,” Dori Koren, the assistant sheriff with the Las Vegas metropolitan police department, said at a press conference earlier this month. “At least five Tesla vehicles were damaged, to include at least two of which were engulfed in flames.”
The Las Vegas police department and the FBI announced they were investigating the incident as potential terrorism, while the federal agency was looking at other incidents of molotov cocktails thrown at Tesla facilities in recent months. Musk also described the incident as “terrorism”.
Donald Trump has said he would label attacks on Tesla properties as terrorism, and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, last week announced charges against three people accused of “violent destruction of Tesla properties”.
Earlier this week, the FBI said it was creating a taskforce in response to the growing reports of vandalism at Tesla dealerships.
