Biography
Jamison R. Wagner, 40, is a queer electrical engineer from Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a B.S. in electrical engineering and a partially completed master’s degree from the University of New Mexico, who previously worked at SolAero Technologies and Intel and co-authored research with Los Alamos National Laboratory. He was arrested on April 12, 2025 and charged with two federal counts of arson in connection with two property destruction actions in early 2025: on February 9, 2025, he allegedly set fire to the Tesla Albuquerque Showroom on the Santa Ana Pueblo in Sandoval County, leaving graffiti reading “Die Elon,” “Tesla Nazi Inc,” and swastika symbols, in apparent response to Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration; and on March 30, 2025, he allegedly firebombed the Republican Party of New Mexico headquarters in Albuquerque, leaving graffiti reading “ICE=KKK.” FBI and ATF agents found eight assembled incendiary devices, improvised napalm materials, a stencil matching the GOP office graffiti, and a notebook containing plans for “violence against the regime” during a search of his home; DNA from a gin bottle left at the GOP office scene led to his identification. He was ordered held without bail and has remained in federal pretrial detention since April 2025. As of July 2026, he had not entered a plea, with trial scheduled for September 14, 2026 before District Judge Kea W. Riggs; he faces five to twenty years per count on two counts (up to forty years). FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi characterized the case as “domestic terrorism.” Wagner identifies publicly as queer and bisexual and was listed in the “500 Queer Scientists” visibility campaign.