‘Evil’: Musk slams fiery Tesla attack
Several Tesla vehicles were set alight in Las Vegas in an attack being investigated as possible terrorism.
“This level of violence is insane and deeply wrong,” Tesla boss Elon Musk wrote on his social media platform X after the fire-bombing early on Tuesday at a Tesla collision centre in Las Vegas.
“Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.”
The word “resist” was also spray-painted on the collision centre’s front doors.
Las Vegas police, who were alerted to the incident by multiple emergency phone calls shortly before 3am (local time), said an unlit petrol bomb was found in one of the cars.
“One caller stated said they heard gunshots and that there was a subject wearing black clothing and setting multiple vehicles on fire,” Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said.
“He used what appeared to be multiple Molotov cocktails and firearms to conduct his attack. At least five Tesla vehicles were damaged, including the two that were engulfed in flames.”
The FBI has been called in to aid the investigation, which Koren and local FBI boss Spencer Evans said was a targeted attack.
💯 violent terrorism https://t.co/tZOrAOWt7O
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 18, 2025
The fire-bombing is the latest in a wave of vandalism, protests and other incidents to hit the electric car maker as acts of protest against Musk’s political involvement and his role in the Trump administration.
About 350 demonstrators protested outside a Tesla electric vehicle dealership in Portland, Oregon, last week, while nine people were arrested at a raucous demonstration outside a New York City Tesla dealership earlier in March.
Tesla vehicles have also been vandalised on the streets, while some Tesla owners have added bumper stickers displaying sentiments such as “I bought it before Elon went nuts”.
Tesla shares have also slumped alarmingly – down nearly 45 per cent this year alone.
🚨🇺🇸 TESLA OWNERS DOXED: SELL YOUR CAR OR STAY ON THE LIST
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 18, 2025
A website called “Dogequest” has reportedly published the names, addresses, and phone numbers of Tesla owners across the U.S., complete with an interactive map and a Molotov cocktail cursor.
The site claims it will only… https://t.co/0Jc8OFOXIP pic.twitter.com/pNrOvCLJA6
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Last week, President Donald Trump entered the fray as he took delivery of his own shiny new Tesla at the White House, accompanied by Musk.
“They’re harming a great American company,” he warned protesters.
“Let me tell you, you do it to Tesla, and you do it to any company, we’re going to catch you, and … you’re going to go through hell.”
Musk has a lead role in the new US administration, spearheading Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
At the weekend, that included forcing more than 1300 Voice of America employees to take leave and cutting funding for two US news services that broadcast to authoritarian regimes.
Musk whose Department of Government Efficiency is tasked with shrinking the government, made light of the cuts.
“While winding down this global government propaganda agency, it has temporarily been renamed the Department of Propaganda Everywhere (DOPE),” he wrote on X.
DOFE has also controversially shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID). On Tuesday, a judge ruled the move likely exercised unconstitutional authority “in multiple ways”.
US District Judge Theodore Chuang’s ruling requires DOGE to reinstate email and system access to for USAID staff and blocks DOGE personnel from taking “any actions relating” to the agency, without the express permission of a USAID official with legal authority.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the administration would appeal, calling the ruling a “miscarriage of justice.”
