Texas: Man Arrested Over Alleged Threat to Shoot Up Tesla Event

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Facts

  • Texas Police have arrested a 28-year-old Florida man for allegedly threatening to commit a 'mass casualty' attack at Tesla headquarters in Austin during a Cybertruck delivery event attended by CEO Elon Musk on Thursday.1
  • Paul Ryan Overeem was taken into custody on Wednesday by the Travis County Sheriff's Office after he was spotted on traffic cameras driving from Florida to Austin.2
  • Overeem had previously posted about his disdain for technology on Instagram, claiming his 'thoughts haven't been free for over a year.'3
  • Last month, he allegedly said in an Instagram group chat that he was planning 'on killing people' at the delivery event and 'would like you [to] do something about it so I don't have to… I wanna die.'4
  • According to his Travis County arrest record, Overeem has been charged with making a terrorist threat, a third-degree felony that carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, and is being held on a $300K bail.5
  • Musk, who isn't named as a specific target in the arrest warrant, has yet to comment on Overeem's arrest.5

Sources: 1Austin American, 2KVUE, 3Daily Mail, 4The Daily Beast and 5NBC.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by KXAN Austin. Authorities thwarted what could have been a mass casualty attack. The fact that Overeem made these threats online and then substantiated them by making the trek from Orlando to Austin is extremely alarming. Thankfully, the Travis County sheriffs apprehended him before he could act on his threats.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Los Angeles Times. There are ways in which digital life has ill-served some Americans. An increase in news-related stress and media saturation overload has led to a huge explosion in the number of people struggling with Internet addiction. Overeem's mental health must be taken into account before vilifying him.