A Florida man was arrested after taunting authorities “to stop me” before making a threat to commit what is being described as a “mass casualty” event during the rollout of the new Tesla Cybertruck last week. More from Headlight.News.
28-year-old Paul Ryan Overeem — seen in a police photo following his arrest — faces a charge of making terrorist threats.
Paul Ryan Overeem, a 28-year-old Orlando resident was arrested after threatening to attack the well-attended rollout of the new Tesla Cybertruck at the automaker’s Austin, Texas assembly plant last week.
Overeem, who used the pseudonym “ufotnoitalumis,” made a series of threats on Nov. 9 on Instagram. He was subsequently charged with making a terrorist threat, a third degree felony.
“Up to (police) to stop me”
“But yeah so at teh (sic) Tesla event I’m planning to attach (sic) so up to you guys to stop me,” Overeem wrote in a note filled with spelling and grammatical errors, according to Texas authorities. “I plan on killing people at that even (sic) ok (sic) November 30th and I would like you do something about it so I don’t have to.”
One of the comments Overeem allegedly made suggested he might have been hoping to trigger what is often known as “suicide by cop,” setting up a situation in which authorities react with deadly force.
“I wanna die,” he reportedly added through his ufotnoitalumis account.
No direct threat targeting Musk
Hundreds of people turned out to watch the first Cybertrucks get delivered to their owners at the company’s plant near Austin, Texas.
Hundreds of people turned out for the Nov. 30 event which celebrated the first retail deliveries of the long-awaited Tesla Cybertruck. The automaker’s controversial CEO Elon Musk was among those at the event, though authorities said there was no indication Overeem was targeting the South African-born executive specifically.
Exactly what allegedly motivated Overeem to make the threats is unclear, though the arrest warrant noted that he appeared to have a problem with high technology.“My thoughts haven’t been free for over a year. All the electronics around me,” the poster wrote on the ufotnoitalumis account.
In a statement, Travis County Sherriff’s Detective Jennifer Boland said that the posts on Instagram show Overeem was prepared to “carry out his threats of a mass casualty event.”
Suspect held in lieu of bail
Authorities did not indicate what, if any, weapons were found when Overeem was arrested or if any have subsequently been located.
After learning of the threat, police reached out to Instagram which provided contact information for Overeem. His Chevrolet Tahoe truck was subsequently spotted in Austin, leading to his arrest.
The suspect is currently being held in Texas in lieu of $300,000 bail, according to police records.
0 Comments