A 28-year-old Florida man was arrested in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday after allegedly making threats of a “mass casualty event” at a Tesla event. The arrest took place just before the delivery event for Tesla’s Cybertruck. According to an arrest affidavit, the man had planned to “shoot up Elon Musk and the plant,” as reported by CBS Austin.
The incident came to light when the Senior Manager of Security Operations at Tesla reported concerning messages received on Instagram on November 9. Some of the messages included phrases like, “I sure am crazy though” and “I plan on killing people at that event on November 30th.” The manager promptly filed a Suspicious Activity report and contacted the Travis County Sheriff’s Office for further investigation.
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Following up on the report, investigators identified the Instagram user as Paul Ryan Overeem, a Florida resident. They determined his location to be in Austin through tracking his cell phone. Recognizing the potential threat of a “mass casualty event,” SWAT officers arrested Overeem in a McDonald’s parking lot off Bee Cave Road in Austin.
During his arrest, Overeem informed officers about weapons in his car and revealed that he had intended to commit suicide before being apprehended. He openly admitted to making multiple threats against Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis, Director of Neuralink. Overeem claimed that he believed the two were monitoring him through camera systems and tracking his movements.
As of now, Paul Ryan Overeem remains in custody at the Travis County Jail on a $300,000 bond. He is being charged with Terroristic Threat, a third-degree felony.
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