Gary Zhou 
Key Points
- 🚨 A 28-year-old Florida man, Paul Ryan Overeem, was arrested for making a terrorist threat against Tesla and planning a “mass casualty event” at Giga Texas during the Cybertruck first delivery event.
- 📅 Overeem posted disturbing messages on Instagram on November 9, expressing his intention to harm people at the Tesla event on November 30.
- 📱 Instagram provided authorities with Overeem’s phone number, leading to an investigation by the sheriff’s office starting on November 28.
- 🚗 Overeem’s black Chevrolet Tahoe was spotted in southwest Austin on the morning of November 28, and his phone was traced in West Austin the next morning.
- 🕵️♂️ Travis County Sheriff’s Detective Jennifer Boland indicated that Overeem had the potential to carry out his threats of a mass casualty event.
- 🛑 Authorities did not confirm if Overeem had weapons, and he has no known ties to the Austin area.
- 😨 Theron Jenkins, whose son works at Giga Texas, expressed fear about the incident, emphasizing concerns for the safety of his children and others.
A Travis County arrest warrant has revealed that a 28-year-old Florida man has been arrested on suspicion of making a terrorist threat against Tesla. The man was reportedly planning to commit a “mass casualty event” at Gigafactory Texas during last week’s highly-anticipated Cybertruck first delivery event.
As noted in a KVUE report, the man, Paul Ryan Overeem, made several disturbing messages on Instagram on November 9, 2023. At the time, the date of the Cybertruck first delivery event had already been publicly announced. Writing under his username ufotnoitalumis in an Instagram chat, Overeem noted that he plans to kill people at Giga Texas, and he should be taken seriously.
“But yeah so at teh (sic) Tesla event I’m planning to attach (sic) so up to you guys to stop me. 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, the Florida man wrote. He also lamented about technology. “I wanna die. My thoughts haven’t been free for over a year. All the electronics around me,” he added.
Travis County Sheriff’s Detective Jennifer Boland noted that the messages amounted to the Florida man’s potential to “carry out his threats of a mass casualty event.”
Fortunately, Instagram provided authorities with the phone number attached to Overeem’s Instagram account. The sheriff’s office started an investigation on Overeem’s threats on November 28, and that same morning, the Florida man’s 2015 black Chevrolet Tahoe was sighted on Highway 290 in southwest Austin. The next morning, Overeem’s phone was traced along Almarion Way in West Austin.
A sheriff’s spokesperson did not reveal if the Florida man had any weapons when he was apprehended by authorities, though officials did confirm that Overeem does not have any known ties to the Austin area. With this in mind, his trip to Austin might’ve really had some disturbing goals.
Theron Jenkins, whose son works at Giga Texas, noted that the event was quite frightening. “Hearing things like that, you think, are my kids safe? It’s really scary. It is really, really scary. And I pray about it every day. You know, I would hate to lose a kid to something like that. I don’t even know how that would feel,” he said.
Watch a news segment from KVUE about the incident below.
