The woman who set fire to a proposed ICE facility in Kansas City in February has accepted a plea agreement.
Dara O’Connor, 30, tried to destroy a Platform Ventures warehouse on Botts Road in Kansas City by lighting it on fire, according to a press release by the United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Missouri.
Photo of O’Connor and the warehouse fire. Provided by the United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Missouri.
The warehouse was almost sold to the federal government to be turned into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, the release says, but the sale didn’t go through.
Media outlets were reporting on the deal’s rejection at the warehouse when they witnessed O’Connor approach the building.
She was recorded throwing two unlit Molotov cocktails – improvised incendiary devices made from a glass bottle, ignitable fluid and a wick – onto the building, spreading the flammable liquid all over the building. She lit the fluid, starting a fire.
🚨 Woman on TAPE trying to torch KC warehouse rumored for ICE detention!
Sprays accelerant, sets fire — flames up before put out. Sale already canceled, but she didn’t care.
No arrest yet. Anti-ICE rage turning criminal? Insane. 💥 pic.twitter.com/xdEykxYGnf
— The Dibster (@TheDibsterX) February 13, 2026
O’Connor attempted to spread the fire by squeezing a bottle of flammable liquid around the building.
After starting the fire, she sat on a nearby curb and used her cell phone. The fire went out after a few minutes, and O’Connor drove away in her car.
O’Connor pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of knowingly possessing two destructive devices that weren’t registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, and paid her victim $43,612 in restitution.
She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole. She’ll be sentenced once the investigation is completed by the United States Probation Office.
