Police in Las Vegas reported that at least five Tesla vehicles were damaged Tuesday morning in what’s been determined to be a “targeted attack” where two of the vehicles were fully engulfed in flames and others were shot with guns.
This follows incidents where cars and cybertrucks were set on fire and/or vandalized over the past two months across the US, including in Massachusetts, Maryland, Colorado, and Oregon. Attacks against vehicles created by the company owned by controversial Trump administration member Elon Musk have become so prevalent that the attorney general declared attacks on Teslas acts of domestic terrorism.
“The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a statement. “We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.”
The NY Times reported that Bondi said if convicted, some of those accused could face sentences of at least five years in prison.
In the most recent anti-Tesla incident, The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shared that officers responded to a call at around 2:45 a.m. local time after receiving reports that the vehicles were being set on fire at a Tesla Collision Center.
When they arrived, police found at least five Tesla’s had been damaged, with the word “RESIST” in capital letters spray painted in red on the collision center’s doors.
According to police, the suspect is believed to have fired at least three rounds into the vehicles while also using a Molotov cocktail to set the fire.
Investigators are still searching for the suspect responsible for the damage but said the individual was seen approaching the center in black clothing.
“As I mentioned earlier, we’re still in the process of collecting evidence, but it appears the suspect fired at least three rounds into different Tesla vehicles, so we do believe a firearm was used,” LVMPD Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said.
The local police are being assisted in their investigation by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
This isn’t the first targeted attack at a Tesla facility, as several others have also been vandalized over Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s role in the federal government. Musk responded to the attack in Vegas, saying it was an act of “terrorism.”
“This level of violence is insane and deeply wrong,” Musk wrote on X. “Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.”