The man suspected of having set fire to Tesla vehicles in Las Vegas will remain imprisoned until trial

By Jacques Billeaud

A man accused of having set fire to Tesla vehicles in Las Vegas will remain imprisoned until his trial for federal accusations of criminal fire and possession of an explosive apparatus, tried a judge on Monday.

The American judge Elayna Youchah concluded that no condition for preliminary liberation could be imposed on Paul Hyon Kim, 36, to ensure the security of the public, citing the dangerous nature of crimes and saying that it was not a question of burglary or simple vandalism.

“What happened in this case was so much more violent and dangerous than these acts. Acts seemed to be intended to create fear,” said Youchah.

The judge also said that she had just found it to say: “The intention of the act was to influence and potentially forcing others in action”.

The authorities say that Kim has launched Molotov cocktails on vehicles and fired several shots in the parking lot of a Tesla service center in early March 18. No one was injured.

The security video played at a police press conference last week showed that the suspect was dressed in black and covering his face, painted the word “resist” through the glass doors of the service center.

Prosecutor Jacob Operskalski said Kim posed a danger to the community. He said he was not clear what Kim heard by writing “to resist” the doors.

“We can assume that the defendant will resist judicial orders,” said Operskalski.

Michael Becker, a lawyer representing Kim, described the attack on “glorified real estate crime with political connotations” and said that “(CEO of Tesla) Elon Musk influence on our federal government cannot be sufficiently overestimated”.

There has been an increase in attacks on goods with the Tesla logo through the United States since President Donald Trump took office and hit Musk for a leading role supervising a new ministry of government efficiency which led federal large-scale layoffs.

Some of the most important cases took place in left-wing cities in the northwest of the Pacific.

The authorities say that an Oregon man has launched several Molotov cocktails in a Tesla store in Salem, then returned another day and pulled windows. In the suburbs of Portland de Tigard, more than a dozen balls were fired in a Tesla exhibition hall, vehicles and damaged windows.

A 7-year-old Idaho man was arrested on Saturday for an aggravated battery after pretending to drive his vehicle in a man who had led a pick-up with pro-Trump flags during a demonstration at a Tesla dealership in the suburbs of Boisse. The collection driver died at the hospital, where he was treated and released.

Colorado prosecutors instructed a woman in connection with attacks on Tesla dealers who, according to the authorities, also included Molotov cocktails thrown on vehicles and the words “Nazi cars” painted by spraying on a building. And the federal agents in South Carolina arrested a man accused of having set fire to the Tesla stations near Charleston.

The writer Associated Press Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this story.

Originally published: March 31, 2025 at 5:07 p.m.