The Las Vegas Sheriff's Department holds a press briefing to announce an arrest of a suspect in a fire attack at a Tesla dealership.
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NewsTranscript
00:00All right, you guys ready?
00:13All right.
00:14Good morning.
00:15I'm Sheriff Kevin McMahon with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
00:20With me today is a special agent in charge of the FBI, Spencer Evans, and Assistant Sheriff
00:28Dory Korn with the LVMPD Homeland Security and Investigative Services.
00:32They'll be two of the individuals speaking.
00:35The rest of the individuals up here are also the command team that helped lead through
00:38this investigation over the course of the last week, and I'm here to provide you a significant
00:43update on the Tesla attack that took place early last week.
00:48This event involved an attack on the Tesla Collision and Sale Center on Tuesday, March
00:5218th, at approximately 0245.
00:56The suspect used a firearm and Molotov cocktails to damage the center and destroy multiple
01:01vehicles that were parked on site.
01:04You'll see to my left some of that video that was taken from that night.
01:10On the screen next to me is also what I want to highlight to each one of you is the very
01:15little information that my investigators and FBI agents had to work with from the initial
01:22aspect of this investigation.
01:25There's a grainy photograph of the suspect's vehicle, a nearly indescribable photo of the
01:30suspect himself, and a couple of photographs of headlights and taillights of the vehicle.
01:38That's what my investigators had to go on a week ago.
01:42Part of this story that you're going to hear is how we arrived at our suspect being taken
01:47into custody with such little information.
01:50It's incredible work by everybody involved.
01:53Despite that minimal information at the onset, and thanks to the hard work and collaborative
01:57effort by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, the LVMPD Counterterrorism Section, and all
02:04of our Fusin Center partners, we were able to identify and arrest the suspect involved
02:09in this attack.
02:10There's a couple of social media photos that have been circulated out there already.
02:15The suspect's name is Paul Kim, K-I-M.
02:19He's an Asian male adult, and he is 36 years of age.
02:24I'm going to transition now to Assistant Sheriff Dory Koren to explain to you exactly what
02:32happened over the course of this last week.
02:34Sheriff Koren.
02:35Thank you, Sheriff.
02:36Good morning.
02:37I'm Assistant Sheriff Dory Koren with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
02:41I oversee our Homeland Security and Investigative Services Group, which includes our Counterterrorism
02:45Section.
02:46I have the opportunity here to provide the details of the investigation, but there's
02:49no doubt this was a collaborative effort involving multiple agencies, numerous, actually hundreds
02:54of personnel that have been involved.
02:56Some of the key people, to include folks that are standing back here, like Lieutenant Rick
02:59Myers, who oversees our Counterterrorism Section, were instrumental, and because of all of their
03:03hard work, we were able to quickly identify and apprehend the Tesla firebombing suspect
03:09in record-breaking time.
03:12Based on the updated evidence that we have, we now have a better understanding, a more
03:16comprehensive understanding of what actually happened, and I'm going to provide some details
03:21as we walk through a little bit of a timeline of what occurred and then what we know about
03:24the suspect now.
03:25So, we'll begin with just talking about how the suspect arrived.
03:28He arrived east of the location in a vehicle, showed up in a black sedan, just parked east
03:32of the Tesla Collision Center.
03:34You can see on this video clip here, we highlighted the area because it's at the top of your screen,
03:38and you'll be able to see the arrival of the vehicle.
03:40You'll be able to see the vehicle comes in, originally driving westbound, where you can
03:43see the headlights, and then turns around, where you can see the taillights, and he reverses
03:47back into where he parks.
03:50The suspect then proceeds on foot and approaches the corner of the building.
03:55As you've seen before, and as you've probably heard, and certainly as we're showing today,
03:59he attempted to mask his identity by wearing black attire, concealing his face, and wearing
04:04gloves.
04:05The suspect then began shooting the surveillance cameras with what appeared to be a rifle.
04:12You can see an image here of the suspect pointing the rifle towards the camera.
04:16At least two surveillance cameras were damaged by gunfire, and then upon shooting the cameras,
04:22the suspect proceeded to the front doors of the Tesla, and he began spray-painting the
04:27words, RESIST, across the doors.
04:31I'll let this video play because you'll get a better shot of the suspect.
04:34You can see his description as he goes across the clear doors there, committing his act
04:40of crime.
04:48Once he finishes spray-painting the words RESIST on the doors, he then approaches multiple
04:52Tesla vehicles that were parked in the front of the center.
04:56He proceeded to shoot into each vehicle and used a molotov cocktail to set the vehicles
05:00on fire.
05:01We'll play a few video clips here to kind of show you his behavior.
05:03You can see him right there in the dark clothing.
05:06He casually walks over to his first vehicle that's targeted.
05:10He will soon put down his backpack onto the ground, and then he transitions to the firearm,
05:19and you'll see him shoot into the vehicle.
05:25Once he shoots into the vehicle, he ends up going back from the vehicle to the bag, and
05:30then back to the car, presumably picking up his item that he used to be able to fire
05:34bomb the vehicle.
05:35We believe that was a molotov cocktail, and you'll see in a moment here the vehicle will
05:39ignite and ultimately fully engulf, causing severe damage.
05:48The suspect then continues on to a second vehicle, and you can see here he's on to the
05:51second target.
05:53He'll do very similar behavior where he shoots into the vehicle, he goes into the backpack,
05:57retrieves an item, and ultimately you'll notice here that he ends up getting the second
06:01vehicle on fire as well.
06:17From there he then proceeds to his third vehicle, repeats the same type of activity.
06:21One of the incendiary devices he was not able to ignite, which is one of the devices that
06:25we were able to recover.
06:27But ultimately, five vehicles were damaged, to include three of which were fully destroyed.
06:31You can see images of the vehicles here.
06:37And you'll see here a drone video, this is from our Skydio drone, being able to provide
06:41an overview of the damage as well.
06:46After this, the suspect then proceeds and flees east, gets in his vehicle, and leaves
06:50the area.
06:52As I mentioned earlier, this case has been worked around the clock, and Sheriff McMayhill
06:57and Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans have made it a top priority for our organization
07:02and put a tremendous amount of workforce behind it to make sure that this was dealt with in
07:07a quick manner.
07:10Because of that, in eight days, around the clock, with our teams, we were able to identify
07:14the suspect's vehicle as a black Hyundai Elantra.
07:17You'll see a photo here.
07:20But what's important to point out here is that this was achieved through an exhaustive
07:23review of surveillance material, analytical data, and a canvas of over 700 locations across
07:29the valley, ultimately allowing us to piece together critical evidence with speed and
07:35precision.
07:37You can see on this image here, this is just one example of many where we're using FLOC
07:40technologies to be able to identify the type of vehicle, including very specific features
07:46of the vehicle, that build up into additional leads and ultimately get us to the point of
07:51identifying the suspect and his vehicle.
07:56As of now, a preliminary assessment, and we have a lot of data to go through and a lot
08:00of investigative work that needs to be followed up on, but a preliminary assessment of the
08:05suspect's social media activity indicates some very loose but self-proclaimed ties to
08:09the Communist Party USA social media group, as well as social media groups called Revolutionary
08:14Communist International, Hidden Palestine, Palestine Action, and a variety of other
08:20social media groups.
08:22That is part of our investigation is to dig further into it and to be able to determine
08:26additional motive and other potential concerns.
08:31At this point in time, the suspect was placed immediately on 24-7 surveillance by our specialized
08:36units to ensure public safety and preserve evidence.
08:41Additional evidence was collected as we continued our investigation, and the suspect was ultimately
08:45arrested yesterday evening.
08:47A search warrant was then obtained and served by the LVMPD SWAT team, which is by far one
08:52of the best, if not the best, SWAT teams in the country that were able to do that safely
08:55and quickly.
08:57And as a part of their operation, we were able to conduct searches of two vehicles linked
09:00to the suspect, the suspect's apartment, and we were also able to collect a buckle swab
09:06for DNA to be able to compare that to the DNA that we recovered from the scene.
09:11Our searches revealed numerous items of interest to include multiple rifles, a shotgun, a handgun,
09:17and miscellaneous gun parts.
09:20You can see a photo to my left of some of the items that were recovered.
09:24We also were able to recover ammunition in multiple calibers to include the caliber that
09:28was used in the crime.
09:31We also recovered numerous electronic devices, which our partners at the FBI are quickly
09:35analyzing.
09:37We also recovered a black gun belt with a pouch that had pink paint residue on it.
09:42You can see a photo of that to my left.
09:45As well as a black backpack with pink paint, face masks, and other articles of clothing
09:49that are consistent with the suspect's description.
09:53We also recovered other key pieces of evidence that we're still evaluating at this time that
09:57do connect the suspect to this attack.
10:01Finally, I will also say about the search warrants, we were able to do a buckle swab.
10:05We were able to, our lab did an amazing job quickly collecting that evidence and analyzing
10:09it.
10:10They worked through the night, nonstop, late hours, because they know how important this
10:13case is to our community.
10:14And ultimately, that DNA that was collected from our subject does match, it was a positive
10:18identification to the DNA that we collected on scene.
10:24It's also worth noting, well excuse me, I'll just kind of conclude here by talking about
10:33the charges.
10:34So for now, at this point in time, he was charged with numerous felonies to include
10:39three counts of arson, third degree, three counts of unlawful possession of explosive
10:43or incendiary device, four counts of destroying property, and five counts of discharging a
10:48firearm into a vehicle or structure.
10:51The suspect remains in custody, and we're working closely with the Clark County District
10:55Attorney's Office and the United States Attorney's Office on the prosecution.
11:00And with that, I do want to transition to our federal partners, and I'll just emphasize
11:04this.
11:05I said this last time, which is our partnership is second to none.
11:08And it goes with all of our partners that we have at the Fusion Center, but particularly
11:11with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the special agent in charge that's here.
11:15We've had a remarkable relationship and this has proven true in this case as well.
11:19We've worked hand-in-hand on all of these cases, and on this case as well, and we have
11:23a tremendous amount of resources behind it because of the Sheriff and the SAC being so
11:27committed on this case.
11:29So with that, I'll transition to FBI Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans.
11:37Good morning.
11:38My name is Spencer Evans.
11:39I serve as the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Las Vegas Division.
11:42I'd like to just reiterate what Assistant Sheriff Corrin said.
11:47My appreciation that we have for the partnership of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
11:51It's nothing short of exemplary.
11:52I've been in the FBI for almost 21 years.
11:55I've served around the country, and I can tell you the seamless collaboration you see
11:59to keep the community safe here in Southern Nevada is unparalleled.
12:03The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, as you've heard, has been investigating this incident
12:07and working this case relentlessly since last Tuesday.
12:10I was just informed a few minutes ago a federal arrest warrant was issued for the subject,
12:15and we anticipate taking Paul Kim into federal custody later today, where he will face federal
12:20charges in addition to those announced by Sheriff McMayhill this morning.
12:25The arrest announced today showcases the remarkable outcomes that are achievable through collaborative
12:30task force partnerships.
12:32Although each agency has distinct roles and responsibilities and capabilities, the fight
12:36against violent crime is a shared commitment, and that's certainly the case here in Las
12:40Vegas.
12:42Last week, when we held the press conference, I emphasized that we would leave no stone
12:46unturned to identify the person responsible and ensure accountability for these heinous
12:50attacks.
12:51I appreciate your assistance in amplifying this message through your media coverage.
12:56One final cautionary message for individuals who are contemplating similar attacks.
13:02There's nothing courageous or noble about firebombing private property and terrorizing
13:07your local community.
13:09The self-righteous mob that's cheering you on today to commit acts of violence on their
13:13behalf will leave you high and dry and forget about you tomorrow.
13:17And at the end of the day, you and you alone will be held responsible and face the prospect
13:22of a lengthy prison sentence.
13:24And with that, I'll turn it back over to Sheriff McMayhill.
13:32So I'd like to just give some final comments here and reassure the public that there's
13:38no ongoing threat related to the suspect in this attack.
13:42That said, we are actively working alongside the FBI to determine if there's any links
13:47between this incident and others occurring across our great country.
13:52As a precaution, we will continue our increased security efforts around Tesla-related locations,
13:59and as always, there's going to be zero tolerance in our community for acts of violence.
14:05I also would like to just take a second and highlight this response is, I believe our
14:10counterterrorism capabilities are among the best in the world.
14:13That's all because of the partnerships between LVMPD, the FBI, ATF, DHS, and our other law
14:20enforcement partners.
14:21It's unmatched, as you've already heard.
14:23We have 13 agencies representing over 250 investigators, analysts, and specialists working
14:30this investigation.
14:31This unified approach is a cornerstone of our ability to respond quickly and effectively,
14:37and it has proven instrumental in this investigation.
14:40The last part of this I want to talk about, as I showed you at the very beginning, we
14:44had nothing to go on.
14:46Quite frankly, it was crossed my mind that this might be one of those cases that we may
14:50not be able to solve.
14:52I've talked to so many of you here in our local media about my desire to become the
14:58most technologically advanced police department in the country.
15:02This case is not solved without the use of technology.
15:08The speed and success of the solve of this case are a direct result of hard work by the
15:15police department and the special agents in charge, the investigative specialists, and
15:19the analysts that all came together to work on this.
15:22But the technology is actually what helped solve this.
15:25In particular, I want to highlight a number of those technologies, which is our FLOC license
15:29plate reader systems, which gave us our first clue, our Skydio drone technology, our digital
15:37forensics lab and all of the things that they do with cell phones and a number of other
15:41aspects of technology, the public safety cameras that we have deployed around our community,
15:47our ability to go in and scrub social media through the tools that are provided with technology,
15:52forensic analysis of DNA, put the exclamation point on this case, his DNA matched what we
16:00took from the scene, and investigative genetic genealogy.
16:05I'd like to especially thank my chief of staff, Mike Gennaro, who's standing behind me here,
16:10who's been instrumental in identifying the needs of our organization for technology and
16:15helping us get it.
16:18And I'll wrap up before I take questions by simply saying thanks to all of you for taking
16:22the time to be here.
16:24And thank you, again, from me, special agent in charge, to all of the folks that work this
16:28case from counterterrorism and law enforcement.
16:32They continue to work tirelessly on this case as we have a lot of things to continue to
16:35investigate to wrap up the loose ends, and it's a real testament to good old-fashioned
16:42police work that these men and women have done.
16:44So with that, I will take any questions.
16:47What I would ask of you, please, identify who you are and who you're with, and then
16:51we'll go from there.
16:52Joe?
16:53Joe Shindelman, Nevada Public Radio.
16:54What's the estimated cost of the damage?
17:00The question is, what's the estimated cost of the damage, and I don't have that number
17:03in front of me, Joe.
17:04Another question I had was, you found DNA at the scene in Seagull a little bit.
17:05When did you get it?
17:06Did you get it somewhere early?
17:12We got DNA.
17:13The question is, where did we get the DNA from at the scene?
17:15We got the DNA in multiple different locations, but as far as where we got it from, I'm not
17:21going to release that information as yet.
17:22Ma'am?
17:23Hello, I'm Tiffany Lang with Channel 3.
17:24Knowing that he has these different social media groups that he's part of, is there any
17:25belief that anybody else was part of this act, or are they encouraging people around
17:26the country to take part in these violent acts off of those groups that he's in?
17:39So the question is, with all the groups that he's using on social media, do we believe
17:42that he's connected to a larger aspect of this in coordination in other locations in
17:49the country?
17:50And the answer is, we're absolutely actively investigating that connection now.
17:54I can't definitively tell you that, and as you know, I'm never going to give you guys
17:58any information unless we can positively be certain of the information that's provided
18:03to you.
18:04Go ahead, one more.
18:05Is it believed that anybody else was part of this specific incident locally, or is it
18:06believed he's acting alone in that?
18:07Yeah, I'm sorry, I forgot that part of your question.
18:12She's asked if anybody else was involved in this case locally, and as of now, the answer
18:18is we do not believe there's any other outstanding actors.
18:21We believe that this individual acted alone.
18:22I'm David from the Washington D.C. News Journal.
18:23Are there any similarities that you've seen so far, like specific similarities that you
18:24've seen other incidents around the country?
18:25Spencer, do you want to try to answer that one?
18:39The question is, is there any similarities between incidents that are occurring across
18:42the nation with the one that we have here, and I think the answer is, is we're actively
18:47exploring those as well, but are there any other comments you want to add on that?
18:50No?
18:51Well, there's certainly some similarities that we're looking at in there.
18:52Behind you.
18:53Hi.
18:54There were just three vehicles that had the Molotov cocktails placed inside of them, but
18:55then there were two additional that were also damaged, a total of five, correct?
19:06Five total that were damaged by the Molotov cocktails and the fire.
19:10The question was, how many were there?
19:11My question for you, Spencer, I was trying to do that with Amy now.
19:12Is there any idea what the federal charges could be?
19:17The question is, is there any idea what the federal charges could be to the FBI?
19:21Yeah, so I'll defer to the U.S. Attorney's Office that I think is going to be issuing
19:25a press statement later, but as of last night, we were contemplating federal arson charges
19:30in possession of a destructive device.
19:32We just received a ... I didn't call on you, Joe.
19:37There was a ... I think the lady behind you had a question first, and then I'll get back
19:39to you.
19:40I was going to ask about the truck.
19:41Same one.
19:42All right.
19:43We're back to you, Joe.
19:44Go ahead.
19:45I'm wondering if there's any concern about potential attacks or incidents within those
19:52tunnels.
19:53I have two questions.
19:54First of all, I'm wondering if Metro has gotten in any threats since the acceptance of that
19:55truck.
19:56Also, Las Vegas, Calcutta, and Fire has been worried about access to the Boren Tunnels.
19:57Metro, I've heard, is also worried about that.
19:58I wonder if there is any worry about potential attacks or incidents within those tunnels.
20:11I have two questions.
20:12It's a very long question that Joe asked.
20:15He asked if we're worried about or received any threats because of the Tesla truck donation
20:20to Metro.
20:21I think that's kind of what you asked me, and the answer is, we have not received those
20:24Tesla trucks yet.
20:25They are still in production, and no, I'm not worried about any threats to those trucks.
20:30The second question was, there's also not only Tesla dealerships here, but there's also
20:35the Boren Tunnels that were done by Elon Musk.
20:39Are we worried about any safety or security threats to the Boren Tunnels?
20:43Is that an accurate assessment?
20:45We have been at a heightened level of security at all of those locations for the Boren Tunnel
20:51that are mostly along the Las Vegas Strip corridor as we speak.
20:55We are continuing, Joe, to evaluate what the security posture looks like at all of those
21:00Boren Tunnel locations, and we'll continue to do so as we move forward.
21:04Last question.
21:06Can you also share where he was arrested?
21:08Was there any type of resistance, or did he say anything while the arrest was happening?
21:14The question is, can we share where he was arrested, and was there any resistance?
21:19There was no resistance.
21:20We were able to take him into custody without any real challenge, and we located him as
21:25he was leaving one of his work locations, or what we think is one of his work locations.
21:30So we'll release additional information on that as we get it, and if there's significant
21:34updates in regards to this, we'll come back before you.
21:37Again, I'd like to say thank you to all of you who started yelling here.
21:40Sheriff Andres Gutierrez with CBS News.
21:42Hi.
21:43Can you delve deeper into the investigative timeline?
21:45Given that you had just a grainy surveillance picture, at what point did the block camera
21:49system pick up that license plate and walk us through some of the 700 places that you
21:53guys ended up canvassing?
21:54Yeah, the question is, is can we walk you a little bit more in depth through the investigative
21:58timeline?
22:00I'll let Assistant Sheriff Korn give you a little bit more detail on that, but this
22:05investigation is open and active, and so we're releasing what we believe we can release without
22:09compromising our investigation.
22:10But, Dory, you can comment a little bit more.
22:13Just to add a little bit of detail on the investigative process, so we used a variety
22:17of technologies.
22:18We featured one today that was instrumental, which you just mentioned, which is the Flock
22:23Safety Cameras.
22:24However, there's a variety of technologies that have been used on this case.
22:27As the Sheriff mentioned earlier, everything from drone technologies to our social media
22:31research tools, our public safety camera network, and our fusion watch unit that works 24-7.
22:37All of that played a role into it.
22:40Ultimately, we talked about over 700 locations that were canvassed, and that is actually
22:47a testament of the public wanting to help us in solving this case, because these are
22:51private businesses or residences where they're willing to come forward and provide information,
22:56sometimes video information, sometimes other types of evidence.
22:59But the groundwork that was done by our personnel to go out and make contact with these various
23:03locations, identify what information was valuable and relevant to the case and what was not,
23:07and ultimately collect that information was unbelievable.
23:10And because of all of that, we were really effective in solving this case.
23:14And just the last point I say is even something as simple as that video camera that was provided
23:20from us, it was actually a cell phone camera footage of the initial incident that was provided
23:25by a citizen, really touches on the point of when we talk about see something, say something,
23:29and people reporting to the police right away can really make a case.
23:33So it was collectively everything together.
23:35But with that, I do apologize.
23:36We do have still a lot to go through, so we'll provide more information, as the Sheriff said,
23:40during a later time.
23:42Thanks again for coming.
23:43I appreciate it.