A Florida man was arrested near a Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, after allegedly threatening a mass casualty shooting there.
The man told police that “I was going to shoot up Elon Musk and the plant” during Thursday’s Cybertruck delivery event, Austin CBS outlet KEYE-TV reported.
The man, identified as Paul Overeem, 28, was booked at the Travis County Jail on a charge of making a terroristic threat — a third-degree felony.
The news outlet reported that a Tesla security official told police that Overeem made multiple threats of violence in Instagram messages on Nov. 9, including:
- “I sure am crazy though”
- “But yeah so at the Tesla event I’m planning an attach so up to you guys to stop me”
- “I plan on killing people at that even ok November 30th and I would like you to do something about it so I don’t have to”
- “I wanna die”
- “I need to be stopped”
- “If I’m saying I’m gonna kill people then you should take this seriously”
NBC News reported Overeem used the name “ufotnoitalumis” in the Instragram chat group.
The network news outlet said an arrest warrant quoted him as complaining about modern technology, saying, “My thoughts haven’t been free for over a year. All the electronics around me.”
Investigators used a phone number supplied by Instagram to trace Overeem, who was located in Austin the day before the event he had threatened to attack, said NBC, citing an affidavit.
Overeem told police that he intended to harm Elon Musk and Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, with whom Musk had twins in 2021, because he believed the two “were watching him through camera systems and tracking him,” KEYE reported.
Tesla was notified of the threats on Nov. 10, KVUE-TV reported. The Travis County Sheriff’s Office began investigating Tuesday, two days before the Tesla event, after learning that no formal police report had been filed.
“That same morning, Overeem’s 2015 black Chevrolet Tahoe was spotted by traffic cameras on Highway 290 in southwest Austin,” the TV station reported.
Tesla Cybertruck delivery event: Florida man arrested in Austin after allegedly threatening ‘mass casualty event’ https://t.co/KKxB6R8qb3
— WFAA (@wfaa) December 1, 2023
The next morning, his phone pinged in west Austin, KVUE said.
“Authorities believe Overeem, who has no ties to Travis County, drove from Florida to Austin to potentially carry out the attack.”
KEYE reported that a SWAT team stopped the suspect in a McDonald’s parking lot and arrested him.
“He told officers that he had weapons in his car and said he was planning on committing suicide before he could be arrested,” the outlet reported.
