Las Vegas Man Charged After Molotov Attack at Tesla Center

All right, you guys ready? All right. Good morning. I'm Sheriff Kevin McMayhill with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. With me today is a special agent in charge of the FBI, Spencer Evans, and Assistant Sheriff Dory Korn with the LVMPD Homeland Security and Investigative Services. They'll be two of the individuals speaking. The rest of the individuals up here are also the command team that helped lead through this investigation over the course of the last week, and I'm here to provide you a significant update on the Tesla attack that took place early last week. This event involved an attack on the Tesla Collision and Sale Center on Tuesday, March 18th at approximately 0245. The suspect used a firearm and Molotov cocktails to damage the center and destroy multiple vehicles that were parked on site. You'll see to my left some of that video that was taken from that night. On the screen next to me is also what I want to highlight to each one of you is the very little information that my investigators and FBI agents had to work with from the initial aspect of this investigation. There's a grainy photograph of the suspect's vehicle, a nearly indescribable photo of the suspect himself, and a couple of photographs of headlights and taillights of the vehicle. That's what my investigators had to go on a week ago. Part of this story that you're going to hear is how we arrived at our suspect being taken into custody with such little information. It's incredible work by everybody involved. Despite that minimal information at the onset, and thanks to the hard work and collaborative effort by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, the LVMPD Counterterrorism Section, and all of our Fusin Center partners, we were able to identify and arrest the suspect involved in this attack. There's a couple social media photos that have been circulated out there already. The suspect's name is Paul Kim, K-I-M. He's an Asian male adult, and he is 36 years of age. I'm going to transition now to Assistant Sheriff Dory Koren to explain to you exactly what happened over the course of this last week. Sheriff Koren. Thank you, Sheriff. Good morning. I'm Assistant Sheriff Dory Koren with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. I oversee our Homeland Security and Investigative Services Group, which includes our Counterterrorism Section. I have the opportunity here to provide the details of the investigation, but there's no doubt this was a collaborative effort involving multiple agencies, numerous, actually hundreds of personnel that have been involved. Some of the key people, to include folks that are standing back here, like Lieutenant Rick Myers, who oversees our Counterterrorism Section, were instrumental, and because of all of their hard work, we were able to quickly identify and apprehend the Tesla firebombing suspect in record-breaking time. Based on the updated evidence that we have, we now have a better understanding, a more comprehensive understanding of what actually happened, and I'm going to provide some details as we walk through a little bit of a timeline of what occurred and then what we know about the suspect now. So we'll begin with just talking about how the suspect arrived. He arrived east of the location in a vehicle, showed up in a black sedan, just parked east of the Tesla Collision Center. You can see on this video clip here, we highlighted the area because it's at the top of your screen, and you'll be able to see the arrival of the vehicle. You'll be able to see that the vehicle comes in, originally driving westbound, where you can see the headlights, and then turns around, where you can see the taillights, and he reverses back into where he parks. The suspect then proceeds on foot and approaches the corner of the building. As you've seen before, and as you've probably heard, and certainly as we're showing today, he attempted to mask his identity by wearing black attire, concealing his face, and wearing gloves. The suspect then began shooting the surveillance cameras with what appeared to be a rifle. You can see an image here of the suspect pointing the rifle towards a camera. At least two surveillance cameras were damaged by gunfire, and then upon shooting the cameras, the suspect proceeded to the front doors of the Tesla, and he began spray-painting the words RESIST across the doors. I'll let this video play because you'll get a better shot of the suspect. You can see his description as he goes across the clear doors there, committing his act of crime. Once he finishes spray-painting the words RESIST on the doors, he then approaches multiple Tesla vehicles that were parked in the front of the center. He proceeded to shoot into each vehicle and used a molotov cocktail to set the vehicles on fire. We'll play a few video clips here to kind of show you his behavior. You can see him right there in the dark clothing. He casually walks over to his first vehicle that's targeted. He will soon put down his backpack onto the ground, and then he transitions to the firearm, and you'll see him shoot into the vehicle. Once he shoots into the vehicle, he ends up going back from the vehicle to the bag and then back to the car, presumably picking up his item that he used to be able to firebomb the vehicle. We believe that was a molotov cocktail, and you'll see in a moment here, the vehicle will ignite and ultimately fully engulf, causing severe damage. The suspect then continues on to a second vehicle, and you can see here, he's on to the second target. He'll do very similar behavior where he shoots into the vehicle, he goes into the backpack, retrieves an item, and ultimately you'll notice here that he ends up getting the second vehicle on fire as well. From there, he then proceeds to his third vehicle, repeats the same type of activity. One of the incendiary devices he was not able to ignite, which is one of the devices that we were able to recover, but ultimately five vehicles were damaged, to include three of which were fully destroyed. You can see images of the vehicles here, and you'll see here a drone video, this is from our Skydio drone, being able to provide an overview of the damage as well. After this, the suspect then proceeds and flees east, gets in his vehicle, and leaves the area. As I mentioned earlier, this case has been worked around the clock, and Sheriff McMayhill and Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans have made it a top priority for our organization and put a tremendous amount of workforce behind it to make sure that this was dealt with in a quick manner. Because of that, in eight days, around the clock, with our teams, we were able to identify the suspect's vehicle as a black Hyundai Elantra. You'll see a photo here, but what's important to point out here is that this was achieved through an exhaustive review of surveillance material, analytical data, and a canvas of over 700 locations across the valley, ultimately allowing us to piece together critical evidence with speed and precision. You can see on this image here, this is just one example of many where we're using FLOC technologies to be able to identify the type of vehicle, including very specific features of the vehicle that build up into additional leads and ultimately get us to the point of identifying the suspect and his vehicle. As of now, a preliminary assessment, and we have a lot of data to go through and a lot of investigative work that needs to be followed up on, but a preliminary assessment of the suspect's social media activity indicates some very loose but self-proclaimed ties to the Communist Party USA social media group, as well as social media groups called Revolutionary Communist International, Hidden Palestine, Palestine Action, and a variety of other social media groups. That is part of our investigation, is to dig further into it and to be able to determine additional motive and other potential concerns. At this point in time, the suspect was placed immediately on 24-7 surveillance by our specialized units to ensure public safety and preserve evidence. Additional evidence was collected as we continued our investigation, and the suspect was ultimately arrested yesterday evening. A search warrant was then obtained and served by the LVMPD SWAT team, which is by far one of the best, if not the best, SWAT teams in the country that were able to do that safely and quickly. And as a part of their operation, we were able to conduct searches of two vehicles linked to the suspect, the suspect's apartment, and we were also able to collect a buckle swab for DNA to be able to compare that to the DNA that we recovered from the scene. Our searches revealed numerous items of interest to include multiple rifles, a shotgun, a handgun, and miscellaneous gun parts. You can see a photo to my left of some of the items that were recovered. We also were able to recover ammunition in multiple calibers to include the caliber that was used in the crime. We also recovered numerous electronic devices, which our partners at the FBI are quickly analyzing. We also recovered a black gun belt with a pouch that had pink paint residue on it. You can see a photo of that to my left. As well as a black backpack with pink paint, face masks, and other articles of clothing that are consistent with the suspect's description. We also recovered other key pieces of evidence that we're still evaluating at this time that do connect the suspect to this attack. Finally, I will also say about the search warrants, we were able to do a buckle swab, our lab did an amazing job quickly collecting that evidence and analyzing it. They worked through the night, nonstop, late hours, because they know how important this case is to our community. And ultimately that DNA that was collected from our subject does match, it was a positive identification to the DNA that we collected on scene. It's also worth noting, well excuse me, I'll just kind of conclude here by talking about the charges. So for now, at this point in time, he was charged with numerous felonies to include three counts of arson, third degree, three counts of unlawful possession of explosive or incendiary device, four counts of destroying property, and five counts of discharging a firearm into a vehicle or structure. The suspect remains in custody and we're working closely with the Clark County District Attorney's Office and the United States Attorney's Office on the prosecution. And with that I do want to transition to our federal partners and I'll just emphasize this, I said this last time, which is our partnership is second to none. And it goes with all of our partners that we have at the Fusion Center, but particularly with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the special agent in charge that's here, we've had a remarkable relationship and this has proven true in this case as well. We've worked hand in hand on all of these cases and on this case as well and we have a tremendous amount of resources behind it because of the Sheriff and the SAC being so committed on this case. So with that, I'll transition to FBI Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans. Good morning, my name is Spencer Evans. I serve as the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Las Vegas Division. I'd like to just reiterate what Assistant Sheriff Corrin said, my appreciation that we have for the partnership with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. It's nothing short of exemplary. I've been in the FBI for almost 21 years. I've served around the country and I can tell you the seamless collaboration you see to keep the community safe here in Southern Nevada is unparalleled. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, as you've heard, has been investigating this incident and working this case relentlessly since last Tuesday. I was just informed a few minutes ago a federal arrest warrant was issued for the subject and we anticipate taking Paul Kim into federal custody later today where he will face federal charges in addition to those announced by Sheriff McMayhill this morning. The arrest announced today showcases the remarkable outcomes that are achievable through collaborative task force partnerships. Although each agency has distinct roles and responsibilities and capabilities, the fight against violent crime is a shared commitment and that's certainly the case here in Las Vegas. Last week, when we held the press conference, I emphasized that we would leave no stone unturned to identify the person responsible and ensure accountability for these heinous attacks. I appreciate your assistance in amplifying this message through your media coverage. And one final cautionary message for individuals who are contemplating similar attacks. There's nothing courageous or noble about firebombing private property and terrorizing your local community. The self-righteous mob that's cheering you on today to commit acts of violence on their behalf will leave you high and dry and forget about you tomorrow. And at the end of the day, you and you alone will be held responsible and face the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Sheriff McMayhill. So I'd like to just give some final comments here and reassure the public that there's no ongoing threat related to the suspect in this attack. That said, we are actively working alongside the FBI to determine if there's any links between this incident and others occurring across our great country. As a precaution, we will continue our increased security efforts around Tesla related locations. And as always, there's going to be zero tolerance in our community for acts of violence. I also would like to just take a second and highlight this response is I believe our counterterrorism capabilities are among the best in the world. That's all because of the partnerships between LVMPD, the FBI, ATF, DHS and our other law enforcement partners. It's unmatched, as you've already heard. We had 13 agencies representing over 250 investigators, analysts and specialists working this investigation. This unified approach is a cornerstone of our ability to respond quickly and effectively and has proven instrumental in this investigation. And the last part of this I want to talk about, as I showed you at the very beginning, we had nothing to go on. And quite frankly, it was crossed my mind that this might be one of those cases that we may not be able to solve. And I've talked to so many of you here in our local media about my desire to become the most technologically advanced police department in the country. This case is not solved without the use of technology. The speed and success of the solve of this case are a direct result of hard work by the police department and the special agents in charge, investigative specialists and the analysts that all came together to work on this. But the technology is actually what helped solve this. In particular, I want to highlight a number of those technologies, which is our flock license plate reader systems, which gave us our first clue, our Skydio drone technology, our digital forensics lab and all of the things that they do with cell phones and a number of other aspects of technology. The public safety cameras that we have deployed around our community, our ability to go in and scrub social media through the tools that are provided with technology. Forensic analysis of DNA put the exclamation point on this case. His DNA matched what we took from the scene and investigative genetic genealogy. I'd like to especially thank my chief of staff, Mike Gennaro, who's standing by behind me here, who's been instrumental in identifying the needs of our organization for technology and helping us get it. And I'll wrap up before I take questions by simply saying thanks to all of you for taking the time to be here. And thank you again from me, special agent in charge to all of the folks that work this case and from counterterrorism and law enforcement. They continue to work tirelessly on this case as we have a lot of things to continue to investigate, to wrap up the ties or the loose ends. And it's a real testament to good old fashioned police work that these men and women have done. So with that, I will take any questions. What I would ask of you, please identify who you are and who you're with and then we'll go from there. Joe, the question is, what's the estimated cost of the damage? And I don't have that number in front of me. Joe, we got DNA. The question is, where do we get the DNA from at the scene? We got the DNA in multiple different locations. But as far as where I'm going to where we got it from, I'm not going to release that information as yet, ma'am. So the question is, with all the groups that he's using on social media, do we believe that he's connected to a larger aspect of this in coordination, other locations in the country? And the answer is we're absolutely actively investigating that connection now. I can't definitively tell you that. And as you know, I'm never going to give you guys any information unless we can we can positively be certain of the information that's provided to you. Go ahead. One more. Yeah, I'm sorry, I forgot that part of your question. She's asked if anybody else was involved in this case locally. And as of now, the answer is we do not believe there's any other outstanding actors. We believe that this individual acted alone. Oh, you want to try to answer that one? The question is, is there any similarities between incidents that are occurring across the nation with the one that we have here? And I think the answer is, is we're actively exploring those as well. But are there any other comments you want to add on that? No, there's certainly some similarities that we're looking at in there behind you. Hi, five total that were damaged by the Molotov cocktails in the fire. The question was, how many were there? The question is, is there any idea what the federal charges could be to the FBI? Yeah, so I'll defer to the U.S. Attorney's Office that I think is going to be issuing a press statement later. But as of last night, they were contemplating federal arson charges in possession of a destructive device. I didn't call on you, Joe. There was I think the lady behind you had a question first and then I'll get back to you. Same one. All right. We're back to you, Joe. Go ahead. So it's a very long question that Joe asked. He asked if if we're worried about or received any threats because of the Tesla truck donation to Metro. I think that's kind of what you asked me. And the answer is we have not received those Tesla trucks yet. They are still in production. And no, I'm not worried about any threats to those truck. The second question was, there's also not only Tesla dealerships here, but there's also the boring tunnels that were done by Elon Musk. And are we worried about any safety or security threats to the boring tunnels? Is that accurate assessment? And we have been at a heightened level of security at all of those locations for the boring tunnel that are mostly along the Las Vegas Strip corridor as we speak. And we are continuing, Joe, to evaluate what the security posture looks like at all of those boring tunnel locations and will continue to do so as we move forward. Last question. The question is, can we share where he was arrested and was there any resistance? There was no resistance. We were able to take him into custody without any real challenge. And we located him as he was leaving one of his work locations or what we think is one of his work locations. So we'll release additional information on that as we get it. And if there's significant updates in regards to this, we'll come back before you. Again, I'd like to say thank you to all of you who started yelling. Yeah, the question is, is can we walk you a little bit more in depth through the investigative timeline? I'll let Assistant Sheriff Korn give you a little bit more detail on that. But this investigation is open and active, and so we're releasing what we believe we can release without compromising our investigation. But Dory, you can comment a little bit more. Just to add a little bit of detail on the investigative process. So we used a variety of technologies. We featured one today that was instrumental, which you just mentioned, which is our FLOC, excuse me, the FLOC safety cameras. However, there's a variety of technologies have been used on this case. As the sheriff mentioned earlier, everything from drone technologies to our social media research tools, our public safety camera network and our fusion watch unit that works 24-7, all of that played a role into it. Ultimately, we talked about 700, over 700 locations that were canvassed. And that is actually a testament of the public wanting to help us in solving this case because these are private businesses or residences where they're willing to come forward and provide information, sometimes video information, sometimes other types of evidence. But the groundwork that was done by our personnel to go out and make contact with these various locations, identify what information was valuable and relevant to the case and what was not, and ultimately collect that information was unbelievable. And because of all of that, we were really effective in solving this case. And just the last point I say is even something as simple as that video camera that was provided from us was actually a cell phone camera footage of the initial incident that was provided by a citizen really touches on the point of when we talk about see some say something and people reporting to the police right away can really make a case. So it was collectively everything together. But with that, I do apologize. We do have still a lot to go through, so we'll provide more information, as the sheriff said, during a later time. Thank you. Thanks again for coming. I appreciate it.