FBI: Arson Attack at Las Vegas Tesla Service Center Has 'Some of the Hallmarks' of Terrorism

By Caitlin Lilly and Katie Futterman

Source Las Vegas Review-Journal

Authorities said damage at a Tesla service center in Las Vegas on Tuesday, including cars set ablaze, had “some of the hallmarks” of terrorism.

Las Vegas police said the person who used Molotov cocktails and shot rounds into the vehicles at the Tesla Collision Center, 6260 Badura Ave., was still on the loose Tuesday afternoon.

Video that captured the attack showed someone dressed in all black damaging at least five Teslas — two of which were engulfed in flames — at 2:45 a.m., police said. The word “resist” was also painted on the front doors of the business, police said, and at least three gunshots were fired into the cars.

“This was a targeted attack against a Tesla facility,” Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said at a press briefing on Tuesday. “We do believe that it is isolated at this time.”

However, he said the Metropolitan Police Department had increased its presence at Tesla-related locations in the valley as a precaution.

According to police, the person responsible for the attack used multiple incendiary devices to set the Teslas on fire, and one of the devices was found unexploded in a car. The collision center is located near Jones Boulevard and the 215 Beltway in the southwest valley.

The Clark County Fire Department and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force also are investigating the matter. Agents arrived at the scene early Tuesday morning, according to FBI Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans.

Evans said that while it was too early to call the attack an act of terrorism, it had “some of the hallmarks” and a “potential political agenda.”

“Violent acts like this are unacceptable, regardless of where they occur,” Evans said at Tuesday’s press briefing.

He urged anyone intending to commit similar acts to “seriously reconsider.”

“It’s a federal crime,” Evans said. “We will come after you. We will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

While he said he was aware of reports of incidents in other states, Evans added that it was still too early to know if they were connected.

In a post on X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to a video of the burning cars shared by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, saying “this level of violence is insane and deeply wrong.”

“Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks,” Musk added in his post.

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, former sheriff of Clark County, replied to the post.

“This type of politically-motivated violence is despicable — and those responsible will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he wrote.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D- Nev., said she had full confidence in law enforcement.

“Let me be clear: these actions are unacceptable, and I condemn them fully,” she wrote on X.

Musk leads the new Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, and its goal of trimming federal spending has spurred layoffs and closure announcements across the federal workforce in the first few weeks of the second Trump administration.

Tuesday’s attack on Tesla vehicles in Las Vegas follows a Cybertruck explosion outside Trump International in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.

In that incident, authorities have said Matthew Livelsberger, 37, an active-duty military operations sergeant from Colorado who served in the U.S. Army as a Green Beret, shot himself in the head seconds before his rented Tesla Cybertruck exploded.

Seven bystanders were injured as a result of the explosion at the resort near the Strip, according to police.

Authorities have said Livelsberger likely suffered from PTSD and had other “personal grievances.”

On Tuesday, Koren said police did not have anything notable to report on a general increase in vandalism of Teslas around the valley.

Police asked that anyone with information contact the Southern Nevada Counter Terrorism Center at 702-828-7777 or www.snctc.org.

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