A 28-year-old Missouri man has pleaded guilty to federal charges after gunfire and a firebombing tore through a Kansas City Tesla dealership last year, leaving a Cybertruck in flames, bullet holes riddling a nearby Model Y, and a second Cybertruck struck by a stray round. Kevin Harkins admitted to one count of malicious destruction of property related to arson and one count of unlawfully possessing an unregistered destructive device.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri, reports of gunshots first brought Kansas City police and fire crews to the dealership on State Line Road on February 13, 2025. Officers arrived to find a Tesla Cybertruck on fire, a Model Y with seven bullet holes, and a second Cybertruck damaged by a ricochet round. Investigators also recovered a charred cloth, a propane hand torch, a cigarette lighter, broken glass, a suspected flammable liquid, and an unbroken Molotov cocktail, as reported by KMBC.
The station reports the burned Cybertruck was worth nearly $82,000, and that the Cybertruck itself had been shot approximately nine times. Harkins, who lives in Barnhart, Missouri, was formally charged by federal criminal complaint in September 2025, per the same account.
Federal Penalties
The malicious destruction of property charge carries a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Harkins also faces up to 10 additional years in prison on the destructive device charge.
The Kansas City Tesla Center sits along State Line Road, according to FireRescue1. That same dealership was targeted again just a month later, on March 17, 2025, when 19-year-old Owen McIntire allegedly firebombed two Cybertrucks valued at more than $105,000 each along with two charging stations worth roughly $550 apiece, per the U.S. Department of Justice.
A Second Attack, A Different Legal Path
McIntire, of Parkville, Missouri, was arrested by federal agents on a college campus in Massachusetts. Investigators tied him to the March attack through surveillance video, cell phone location records, DNA recovered from a hat found in nearby Leawood, and an unbroken Molotov cocktail fashioned from an apple cider vinegar bottle, FireRescue1's reporting details. A federal judge released McIntire to home confinement following an April 24 detention hearing, ahead of his May 1 hearing, so he could continue uninterrupted medical care for depression, ADHD, and gender-affirming treatment, along with structured support for autism spectrum disorder, after public defenders argued he needed care and structure in the community, according to Newsweek.
Harkins' plea lands within a broader federal crackdown that then-Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced in April 2025, when she declared that arson and firebombing attacks on Tesla properties would be treated as domestic political terrorism and warned of decades-long prison terms. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said there would be no plea concessions, as reported by Complex. Early 2025 also saw attacks on Tesla properties and broader protests.
Harkins has formally admitted guilt to the federal arson and explosives charges.
