KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A St. Louis-area man pleaded guilty in federal court this week for firing more than 30 rounds at two Tesla vehicles and setting one of them on fire at the Kansas City, Missouri, Tesla dealership in February 2025.
Around 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2025, KCMO police officers received a call about the sound of gunfire near the Tesla dealership just north of 103rd Street and State Line Road.
WATCH | This incident took place roughly a month before another high-profile incident at the dealership in which two vehicles were severely burned. Video of that incident is in the video player below.
At about the same time, KCMO firefighters were called to a reported fire at the dealership.
When first responders arrived, they located a 2024 Cybertruck that had been shot roughly nine times and that had suffered fire damage to the driver’s side of the vehicle.
They also located a Tesla Model Y SUV that had seven bullet holes located in the front hood area.
A third vehicle at the dealership — another Cybertruck — was found to have sustained damage from a bullet ricochet.
As detectives processed the scene, they recovered evidence, including empty beer bottles and flammable liquid around the Cybertruck, to indicate the suspect might have used a Molotov cocktail to set the vehicle on fire.
During their investigation, detectives interviewed a witness who lived near the Tesla dealership, who said he spoke to a man he believed was shooting at the Tesla dealership. During the confrontation, the witness — armed with his own firearm — demanded the suspect, later identified as Kevin Harkins, 28, who lived in the Kansas City area at the time, to get on the ground.
Harkins yelled an expletive at the witness before getting into his vehicle and leaving the scene.
Using surveillance video and an automated license plate reader at the intersection of 103rd and State Line, detectives were able to identify Harkins’ vehicle as a black Volkswagen Jetta with Missouri plates.
With the license plate information in hand, detectives were able to identify Harkins’ address and cellphone number, which they used to track his location on the night of the incident. That tracking data placed Harkins at the Tesla dealership at the time of the incident.
As investigators continued to build their case, they found Harkins’ Facebook profile picture had been updated roughly two months after the shooting, which pictured him standing in front of several strings of shell casings. The casings were consistent of the casings that were recovered at the Tesla dealership.
Detectives detained Harkins on Sept. 10, 2025, at the St. Louis-area residence where he had moved several months after the incident at the Kansas City Tesla dealership.
During questioning, Harkins admitted to being involved in the incident. He told detectives that he was angry with Elon Musk during a period of time when Musk had a big impact in the federal government. He said he believed that Musk was trying to buy out and run the country. Harkins said that he was “blackout drunk” when he committed the acts.
After the interview, federal prosecutors charged Harkins with one count of malicious destruction of property related to arson and one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device.
On Friday, Harkins pleaded guilty to the charges. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled. Harkins faces up to 20 years in prison on the malicious destruction of property charge and up to 10 years in prison for the unlawful possession charge.
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