A man who recently moved to Barnhart from Kansas City has been accused of shooting at vehicles and setting one on fire at a Kansas City Tesla dealership. The man told investigators he targeted the dealership because he was angry about Elon Musk’s work in President Donald Trump’s administration, court documents show.
Kevin A. Harkins, 27, in February allegedly shot and set fire to a Cybertruck, shot a Tesla car and damaged another Cybertruck when bullets ricocheted off the other vehicles. Invesigators said incendiary devices had been thrown at one of the trucks and a lighter and hand torch were found at the dealership, according to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Missouri in Kansas City.
Kevin Harkins
Harkins was living in the Kansas City area at the time of the incident, and he moved to Barnhart in August. When confronted by FBI agents on Sept. 11, he said he targeted the Tesla vehicles because Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, “had a big impact in the federal government, which affected the jobs of lots of people,” court records show.
On Sept. 12, Harkins was charged with malicious destruction of property and unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm and destructive device in U.S. District Court in Kansas City.
Messages sent to an email adderss and a call to a phone number listed for Harkins were not returned to the Leader. No attorney was listed for Harkins in court records.
Harkins allegedly damaged the vehicles while Musk was leading the Department of Government Efficiency, which made numerous cuts to the federal government early in Trump’s second term. According to the affidavit, he told investigators he believed Musk should not have been involved in the government.
Harkins described Musk as a “South African autocrat” and said Musk was “trying to buy out and run the country.” He also said there were issues on both sides of the political spectrum that were “causing the downfall of the country” and that the “weeds need plucked,” the report said.
Harkins also said he was “tired of being dragged through the dirt by a bunch of billionaires,” according to the report.
The affidavit said police and firefighters were called at about 9:30 p.m. Feb. 13 to the KC Tesla Center, 10111 State Line Road, in Kansas City after receiving reports of gunshots and fire. Investigators found the damaged vehicles and an “ignitable liquid” that had been poured on the ground and allowed to burn, as well as broken glass, two beer bottles, charred cloth and lighters.
A 2024 Tesla Cybertruck was shot approximately nine times and had been damaged by fire. The truck was worth $81,958, the report said.
Investigators also found seven bullet holes in a Tesla Model Y, and they found two beer bottles and one of the bottles had scraps of a black plaid shirt sticking out of it. Another 2024 Tesla Cybertruck was damaged by apparent bullet ricochet, according to the report.
A person who lives near the dealership told police 12 to 15 gunshots were fired at about 9:25 p.m., and the person saw a man fire 12 to 15 more shots at the dealership. The person confronted the man shooting at the dealership with a firearm and told him to get on the ground, but the man cursed at the person who lives near the dealership and ran away, court documents said.
Another person who lives near the dealership told investigators about 30 shots were fired at the time of the vandalism, the affidavit said.
Tesla surveillance footage showed a person walking to the parking lot shortly before a fire became visible near the vehicles and the suspect appeared to throw incendiary devices at a Cybertruck. Investigators determined a bottle that they recovered had been fashioned into a Molotov cocktail, the report said.
A license plate reader device at the intersection of 103rd Street and State Line Road captured an image of a Volkswagen Jetta, which is registered to Harkins, drive away from the area after the confrontation with one of the witnesses. Investigators tracked Harkins at business and home locations in the Kansas City area in May, June and July before he moved to Barnhart, according to court documents.
FBI investigators observed Harkins in early July moving furniture from his Kansas City residence “as if he were moving out.” They then located his car at the Barnhart residence on several days and watched as he worked at a business in the St. Louis area, the report said.
Harkins listed the Barnhart address on his employment records there. FBI agents from Kansas City and St. Louis went to the house in Barnhart where he was staying in the basement and executed a search warrant there on Sept. 11, according to the report.
In his room, they found a 9 mm handgun, magazines and scraps of fabric that investigators said were similar to those with one of the bottles they found in the Tesla parking lot, the report said.
Harkins initially told investigators he was not involved in the vandalism in Kansas City, but he read about the incident. He also said his brother, who he claimed recently died of an overdose, may have caused the damage, according to the report.
However, when investigators said the fabric found in the Barnhart home was similar to the scraps of shirt found at the dealership, Harkins admitted to causing the damage, the report said.
He told investigators he was bitter and angry due to separating from his wife last year, and he had started binge drinking. He said he was “blackout drunk” when he vandalized the vehicles, according to the report.
Harkins allegedly said he fired about 32 shots at the vehicles and threw Molotov cocktails at the Cybertruck. He said he then went to a store, stole some liquor and returned to the area to see if any of the vehicles were still on fire, the report said.
Court records show about a month after Harkins vandalized the Cybertrucks and car at the dealership, another person allegedly used fire to damage two Cybertrucks and two charging stations at the dealership.
Owen McIntire, 19, has been charged for damage done on March 17. He faces the same felony charges as Harkins and is scheduled for a trial in August 2026.
The Kansas City incidents came during a spate of vandalism against Tesla properties in other states that Attorney General Pam Bondi labeled “domestic terrorism” earlier this year.