A suspect armed with a gun and Molotov cocktails launched a “targeted attack” against a Tesla location in Las Vegas early Tuesday, spray painting “resist,” firing several shots and torching multiple cars, authorities said.
Gunshots and flames erupted at the Tesla Collision Center, at 6260 Badura Ave., at 2:45 a.m. in the latest violent incident involving property associated with Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO and adviser to President Donald Trump.
“This was a targeted attack against a Tesla facility, ” LVMPD Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren told reporters. “We do believe that it is isolated at this time. We do not believe there is further threat to the general public.”
The suspect wore all black, and “used what appeared to be a Molotov cocktails and a firearm to conduct his attack,” Korean said.
“At least five Tesla vehicles were damaged to include two of which were engulfed in flames,” Koren continued.
The attacker “fired three rounds into different Tesla vehicles” and at least one un-ignited Molotov cocktail was recovered from the scene, the assistant sheriff said.
The word “RESIST” in all-caps was stray pained in red on the center’s doors.
Musk has been the point man for the Trump administration’s attempts to drastically reduce federal programs with his Department of Government Efficiency.
Those efforts have coincided with a wave of vandalism nationally that appear to be targeting Tesla vehicles and facilities.
“This level of violence is insane and deeply wrong,” Musk said in a statement posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter that he bought in 2022. “Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.”
There will be more police assigned to Tesla locations around Las Vegas, Koren said.
“Violent acts like this are unacceptable,” said FBI Special Agent Spencer Evans, chief of the bureau’s Las Vegas office.
“To those who might think that something like this is justifiable or potentially even admirable, we want to let you know it’s a federal crime. We will come after you. We will find you.”
About 22 hours before this Las Vegas incident and 300 miles away near San Diego, sheriff’s deputies on patrol there drove by a Tesla dealership when “multiple cars were found with swastikas spray-painted on them,” officials said.
“In addition, several windows of the dealership building had also been spray-painted with swastikas and profanity,” the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said.
And in another overnight incident of suspected arson, police say two CyberTrucks were damaged by fire at a Tesla dealership in Kansas City, Missouri.
The FBI said it’s working with the ATF and the Kansas City police to investigate the incident.
“Similar incidents have occurred in several states and the FBI and ATF are coordinating with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to gather information,” FBI Kansas City said in a Tuesday statement.
Linda Takahashi contributed.
