Elon Musk condemns violent attacks in Tesla as a fundamental case of terrorism
DOGE leader Elon Musk discusses the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, stopping fraud and violent attacks on Tesla on The Five.
The number of reported attacks on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations has now surpassed more than 50 amid Elon Musk’s growing influence in the Trump administration and the entrepreneur not holding back on voicing his right-leaning political views.
An analysis by Fox News has found that there have been at least 51 targeted attacks across the U.S. while there have been at least 17 similar attacks internationally.
The incidents range from minor vandalism, such as keying or graffiti, to more extreme cases like arson and drive-by shootings allegedly targeting Tesla vehicles. There are at least five federal lawsuits pertaining to these Tesla attacks.
Elon Musk and a recent Tesla protest. The number of reported attacks on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations has now surpassed more than 50 amid Musk’s growing influence in the Trump administration. (Getty Images)
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Musk has described the attacks as "wide-scale domestic terrorism" and demanded authorities "go after the generals" behind the violence. Musk is spearheading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an agency that has been slashing federal spending to serve its mission of rooting out waste, fraud and corruption.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi has said her department is treating such incidents as "domestic terrorism."
Some serious attacks on Tesla in the U.S. include a March 18 incident in Las Vegas when police said 36-year-old Paul Hyon Kim used a Molotov cocktail to torch several Teslas at a local dealership.
Paul Hyon Kim, the suspect arrested in Molotov attack on Vegas Tesla dealership (Hal Sparks via Storyful/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
He allegedly also damaged surveillance cameras with a rifle and spray-painted the word "resist" on the Tesla center’s front doors. Authorities said Kim's social media activity showed potential links to communist groups and Palestinian causes.
Four Tesla Cybertrucks were set on fire in a Seattle Tesla lot last month, while two Tesla Cybertrucks caught fire at a local dealership in Kansas City.
Police also found "incendiary" devices inside a Tesla showroom in Austin, Texas, on March 24 following repeated protests at the showroom while 24-year-old Cooper Jo Fredrick was arrested for allegedly igniting an incendiary device and hurling it at the dealership in Loveland, Colorado, on March 7. The device landed between two cars and created a fire. There were no injuries despite people being in the building at the time.
Some protesters are boycotting Tesla while others are targeting Tesla vehicles by setting them on fire.? (Getty Images)
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Elsewhere, more than a dozen shots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Tigard, Oregon, on March 13, the second such incident at that location in one week.
In Charleston, South Carolina, Daniel Clarke-Pounder, 24, allegedly wrote profane messages against President Donald Trump and advocated for Ukraine around Tesla charging stations before lighting three of the charging stations on fire with Molotov cocktails on March 7.
Court documents, citing witnesses, say Clarke-Pounder spray-painted in red paint, "F--- Trump" and "Long Live Ukraine" in a Tesla charging station parking spot.
Meanwhile, in Salem, Oregon, on Jan. 20, 41-year-old Adam Matthew Lansky is alleged to have thrown approximately eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership, federal prosecutors said. One vehicle was completely destroyed and several others were damaged.
Other incidents have involved people keying Tesla's, carving or spray-painting the word "Nazi" or swastika symbols onto Tesla vehicles, while one man has been charged in Texas with using a small all-terrain vehicle (ATV) to ram into a Tesla vehicle and damage at least two others.
Teslas on fire at a collision center in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 18, 2025.? (Souphany Vannavong via Storyful.)
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The international incidents involved several instances of vandalism against vehicles, including a Tesla humanoid robot having orange liquid poured over it by climate activists in the U.K.
A Tesla factory near Berlin was set on fire March 5 while twelve Tesla vehicles were set on fire in Toulouse, France, on March 2.
Over the weekend, anti-Musk protesters saw one of their biggest shows of force as the decentralized movement known as Tesla Takedown planned a "Global Day of Action" targeting more than 500 Tesla locations worldwide.
Fox News’ Madeline Coggins, Mary Schlageter, Peter D'Abrosca and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
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