Attorney General Pam Bondi is calling the current series of fire attacks and vandalism against Tesla vehicles “nothing short of domestic terrorism” and pledging harsh sanctions for culprits if they are captured.
The statement from Bondi came after the latest incident in which five Tesla vehicles were damaged when a fire was started at a Tesla Collision Center in Las Vegas on Tuesday morning. That was the latest in a wave of incidents aimed at the electric vehicle company, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
“This was a targeted attack against a Tesla facility,” said Dori Korean, assistant sheriff for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Along with the burning vehicles, officials reported that the word “RESIST” was spray-painted across the facility’s doors, and three rounds of bullets were fired at the remaining Teslas. According to police, the suspect approached the shop dressed in black and is suspected to have carried out his attack with Molotov cocktails and a pistol.
Officials received notice that an individual had “set several vehicles on fire in the parking lot and caused damage to the property.”
Police and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force are investigating this incident, which they believe was an isolated attack. Authorities are still looking for a suspect.
Two Tesla Cyber trucks also caught on fire at a dealership in Kansas City, Missouri, on Monday evening, according to the Kansas City Police Department.
Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations have been vandalized, suffered arson and faced protests in recent weeks since the company’s CEO Elon Musk began his work at the White House spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
In the statement Tuesday, Bondi said, “The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism.” In some of the cases, she said the Justice Department is charging perpetrators with crimes that carry five-year mandatory minimum sentences.
“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,” she said in the statement.
In the Kansas incident, a police officer in the area spotted smoke coming from one Cyber truck at a Tesla dealership on State Line Road shortly before midnight. The officer attempted to put out the flames using a fire extinguisher, but the fire spread to a second Cyber truck parked next to the original one, police said.
The Kansas City Fire Department ordered the bomb and arson squad to help on the site, the fire department stated. Officials were able to put out the flames and the vehicles were “covered with a fire blanket to prevent reignition,” the fire department stated.
“The circumstances are under investigation, but the fire is being investigated as a possible arson,” police said in a statement on Monday.
Police reported that no arrests had been made in connection with this incident. The FBI is assisting the Kansas City Police Department with its investigation.
This follows a spree of similar incidents that have occurred across the country in the last few weeks.
Last week, “more than a dozen” shots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Tigard, Oregon, according to Kelsey Anderson, the Tigard Police Department’s public information officer.
Additionally, three Teslas were vandalized in Dedham, Massachusetts on March 11, according to the Dedham Police Department. Officials said “words had been spray-painted” on two Tesla Cyber trucks, and all four tires of the trucks, as well as a Tesla Model S, were “reportedly damaged.”
Protests against the firm have also taken place at dealerships countrywide. Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs told ABC News the demonstrations and the company’s plummeting stocks — which have tumbled nearly 48% this year — can all “be tied to [Musk’s] time at DOGE.”
“It has been a distraction for the company and it’s been a problem for the brand,” Frerichs said.
In recent weeks, four top officers at the company have sold off $100 million in stock , according to filings with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.
Musk, the owner of X, said on Monday that his firms “make great products that people love and I’ve never physically hurt anyone, so why the hate and violence against me?”
“Because I am a deadly threat to the woke mind parasite and the humans it controls,” Musk said on X.
Musk has previously published replies criticising prior Tesla attacks, including one claiming that those involved for the Las Vegas incident are “terrorists and should be treated accordingly.”
