Summary

A suspect vandalized and set fire to Teslas at a Las Vegas Collision Center early Tuesday in what police call a “targeted attack.”

The assailant, dressed in black, shot at five vehicles, torched two, and left an undetonated Molotov cocktail. They also spray-painted “Resist” on the building.

Authorities have not confirmed a political motive but noted Elon Musk’s ties to Trump. The FBI is investigating, warning that such acts are federal crimes.

Tesla has faced backlash amid Musk’s government role and far-right politics.

    • arrow74@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      23
      ·
      23 hours ago

      I don’t know, are we sure the Tesla didn’t spontaneously combust? They’re known to do that. Wouldn’t want a manufacturing error pinned on an innocent person…

  • elbucho@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    29
    ·
    23 hours ago

    The most fucked up part of this is the fact that the FBI is involved. I’m old enough to remember a time when someone vandalizing a few cars in a lot at 3 in the morning when nobody was around would be a local PD issue, and not the fucking FBI. Seems like it was only a couple of months ago… man, time flies.

    Seriously, though - in a normal world, this would be far below the payroll of FBI agents. They would spend their time investigating terrorist organizations or child traffickers and bounce this shit back to LVMPD and tell Tesla to file an insurance claim. Instead, the head of the FBI is the lackey of the president, who owes his position to the billionaire that owns Tesla, and so now the FBI is serving as Elon Musk’s personal private investigators. It’s disgusting.

    • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      22 hours ago

      Those times were 30 years ago as of tomorrow. Since Oklahoma, the FBI has been very interested in domestic political violence and terror.

      • elbucho@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        22 hours ago

        Actually 30 years ago as of a month and a day from now (April 19th, 1995). Still, there’s a huge fucking difference between a little light arson and parking a van packed full of explosives in front of a federal building. This is property damage, not terrorism.

        • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          21 hours ago

          It’s politically motivated property damage, which is terrorism. It starts with light arson, and when that doesn’t bring down the government, it escalates and before too long there’s a truckload of fertiliser outside the White House because someone doesn’t know when to stop.

          • elbucho@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            21 hours ago

            It’s politically motivated property damage, which is terrorism

            By that metric, you could also claim that defacing a political sign during election season is terrorism. Some terrorist drew a mustache on a billboard of one of the candidates in my district. Should the FBI investigate that, too?

            The problem with your slippery slope argument is that it’s fucking stupid. You have to draw the line somewhere. If the FBI is going to investigate every time someone decides to huck a molotov cocktail at a nazimobile, they’re going to have their hands way too full to track down real crimes.

  • alekwithak@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    edit-2
    23 hours ago

    Teslas aren’t selling, but playing the victim, pointing the finger, AND collection insurance? Even better.

    I’m sure a few radicals are out there vandalizing a Tesla or two, but I don’t believe for a second this isn’t insurance fraud with a bonus of labelling people who speak out against you as domestic terrorists.

    • the803@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      22 hours ago

      The “RESIST” graffiti is a dead giveaway; people with Fox-addled brians don’t understand the difference between liberals and anarchists (the way insurance adjusters do)

    • painfulasterisk1@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      21 hours ago

      Elon bought the cars in Canada and people figured it out. Now he has no other option than to make organized arson to claim insurance and recoup his losses.

  • ThePantser@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    23 hours ago

    Love seeing this hurting FElon. I just hope people are checking these cars before the battery spontaneously combusts to ensure nobody is sleeping in one we don’t want to give them any reason to turn this into a bigger deal by having a murder involved.

  • reddig33@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    arrow-down
    40
    ·
    edit-2
    24 hours ago

    Burning Teslas is stupid and wasteful. All this does is get Elon a free check from the insurance company.

    Protesting and stigmatizing buying a Tesla works better.

    • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      61
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      24 hours ago

      Fuck being “wasteful”. It makes consumers think twice about buying one, which is the actual intended consequence.

      Elope doesn’t care about the insurance payout on a handful of undelivered units. Theres been like <30 cars burnt so far. Manufacturers lose hundreds of vehicles to random damage and acts of god every year.

      But the brand damage and resulting tens of thousands of lost sales caused by consumers seeing this and thinking “I may be a target if I buy this car”… THAT makes a dent in the bottom line, and is market pressure working as intended.

    • Pistcow@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      33
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      24 hours ago

      No, it bring attention to him being a shitbag. Burn them all down.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      edit-2
      23 hours ago

      Protesting and stigmatizing buying a Tesla works better.

      Maybe if you are are someone who expects change to just magically “appear” and for the system to simply correct itself so that they can go back to consuming.

      Protest without the ultimate threat of force behind it is a parade.

      Steal them and strip them for their batteries and parts instead.

      • courageousstep@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        23 hours ago

        Protest without the ultimate threat of force behind it is a parade.

        I’ve never heard it worded this way, before, but it sums up something that has been bothering me about modern protests: they are parades.

    • PurpleSkull@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      21 hours ago

      If this keeps up, no insurance company will insure Teslas anymore. I’m fairly sure the prices for that have already gone up and will continue to do so. It’s a high-risk asset now.

      Elon doesn’t get anything. Well unless the troglodyte having his Tesla just burned down goes out and buys another in hopes this one won’t combust or see him on the wrong side of a mob.

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      edit-2
      24 hours ago

      Exactly. If they weren’t going to sell, and signs are pointing that they aren’t, then the vandalizing is just giving them money via insurance as stated.

      And leave the people alone that already had Tesla’s prior to Musk going mask-off. They were trying to be part of the solution (moving to EVs) and there’s no reason to harass/attack/vandalize them.

      But definitely point and laugh at anyone going out and buying a Tesla now.

      • drzoidberg@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        22
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        24 hours ago

        It raises the price they have to pay thousands of other teslas, and if it happens enough, insurance will drop them. Insurance companies don’t want to pay out, and they will pull coverage when it becomes too expensive for them to insure.

        • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          14
          ·
          24 hours ago

          I just came across this relevant article this morning.

          “If vandalism involving Tesla vehicles continues to rise and doesn’t go back down, we could see rates rise for comprehensive coverage in the future,” he said.

          Martin explained that when carried, vandalism is covered by the comprehensive portion of an auto policy. While vandalism claims typically don’t increase insurance rates as much as collision claims, they can impact rates, she explained.

          Martin added: “Since the recent rise in vandalism is focused on Teslas and not other make vehicles, drivers who carry Tesla Insurance may see a higher premium hike than those who have coverage with other carriers, since the risk of loss isn’t as diversified.”

          • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            23 hours ago

            That’s great.

            Nobody cares if you gasp at the sight of protest outside of the designated protest area . Just like nobody cares if you disapprove of a picket line blocking a road because how dare they.

          • NameTaken@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            23 hours ago

            Like what is the end goal here put Tesla out of business? Does anyone believe this would hurt Elon? Say Tesla went bankrupt, so now Elon musk would be worth $230 billion instead of $330 billion. He would live his life exactly the same but now thousands of normal people are underwater on their cars. How is this “winning”?

            What am I missing here?

            • cabron_offsets@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              23 hours ago

              TSLA market cap $766B. That’s a nice loss, if it could be achieved.

              Besides, what you’re missing is quite obvious: the only thing that musk understands is fear. Make your own inferences.

              • NameTaken@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                23 hours ago

                You understand that he only ownes 10 or 15% of Tesla. The majority of that is probably held by index funds and other peoples 401ks. So again normal people would loose a lot of money.

                If Tesla went bankrupt it would literally be a drop in the bucket for Musk. Also what would he fear? He can pay for his own boat or literal island and security. Saying people should go after musk vs go after anyone who drives a Tesla is very different.

                • cabron_offsets@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  23 hours ago

                  I don’t give a fuck how much he owns. The point is to hose all the fat fucks and to brand him as toxic. And to familiarize those assholes with urgent dread.

            • grue@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              23 hours ago

              Musk’s purchase of Twitter was backed by Tesla stock. If the stock tanks enough, that bill comes due.

            • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              7
              ·
              23 hours ago

              Basically people pissed off and need an outlet for that but can’t see the forest for the trees. 🤷‍♂️