Florida man arrested for threatening ‘mass casualty attack’ at Tesla Cybertruck event in Texas
A Florida man has been arrested for allegedly threatening to carry out a “mass casualty attack” at a Texas event launching the new all-electric Tesla Cybertruck. Paul Ryan Overeem, 28, from Orlando, was arrested in Travis County, where Tesla’s factory outside of Austin is located, a day before the event was set to take place.
Authorities say Overeem made the threatening remarks in an Instagram group chat, where he allegedly expressed his intention to kill people at the public event. Tesla was notified about the group chat on November 10 and reported it to law enforcement, leading to Overeem’s arrest. Investigators were able to track down Overeem through a subpoena to Instagram.
The arrest warrant did not specify whether Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk, who was personally delivering several Cybertrucks at the event, was a target of the threats. Overeem has been charged with making terroristic threats, a felony, and is being held in Travis County on a $300,000 bond.
Musk, who also heads the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which is based in San Francisco, did not make any public comments regarding the incident. It is unclear what motivated Overeem to make the threats or if he had any connection to Tesla or the event itself.
The arrest serves as a reminder of the potential dangers of threats made online and the seriousness with which law enforcement and companies take them. The event in Texas went on as planned, with Musk delivering the new Cybertrucks to buyers.