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Teslas torched at Las Vegas facility in ‘targeted attack’ (www.rollingstone.com)
submitted 6 hours ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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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.

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[-] elbucho@lemmy.world 48 points 5 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.

[-] skozzii@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 hours ago

They should keep the FBI busy then...

[-] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 13 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 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.

[-] MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world 12 points 2 hours ago

the FBI has been very interested in domestic political violence and terror

Not super interested in the right wingers most of the time though

[-] elbucho@lemmy.world 7 points 2 hours ago

Some of those that work forces something something.

[-] elbucho@lemmy.world 9 points 4 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 1 points 3 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.

[-] rimu@piefed.social 2 points 17 minutes ago

Property damage can sometimes be considered terrorism, depending on the intent, scale, and impact of the act. Many legal definitions of terrorism include serious destruction of property if it is intended to:

  • Intimidate or coerce a population (e.g., setting fire to critical infrastructure to spread fear).
  • Influence a government or international organization (e.g., bombing government buildings to force political change).
  • Cause widespread disruption (e.g., cyberattacks on essential services).

Tesla dealerships are not critical infrastructure, government buildings or essential services.

It's really a stretch to call this terrorism.

[-] elbucho@lemmy.world 13 points 3 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.

[-] dangling_cat 2 points 3 hours ago

Well. Using feds for vandalization is not a scalable solution

[-] donuts@lemmy.world 76 points 6 hours ago

Most rad thing I've read this week. So far, at least.

[-] arrow74@lemm.ee 24 points 5 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...

[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 31 points 6 hours ago

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago

I see a blank message with no edits. Why does this have 11 upvotes?

[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 8 points 5 hours ago

Your ISP is blocking catbox.moe

See if this works:

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Try manually changing your DNS server: https://umatechnology.org/change-dns-server-in-android-for-mobile-data-wifi/

[-] SGforce@lemmy.ca 8 points 5 hours ago

Federation can cause some images to load slower on some instances

[-] Hello_there@fedia.io 3 points 5 hours ago

https:// files.catbox.moe/u0msnf.gif

[-] alekwithak@lemmy.world 19 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 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.

[-] painfulasterisk1@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 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.

[-] the803@lemm.ee 8 points 4 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)

[-] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 9 points 5 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.

[-] NotLemming@lemm.ee 17 points 6 hours ago

Smokin' hot Luigi vs stone cold Luigi

[-] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 14 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Hell yeah, cleanse the filth with the holy flame!!!!!

[-] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 15 points 5 hours ago

fuck yeah

[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 15 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 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 67 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 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.

[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 29 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 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 16 points 5 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.

[-] Hello_there@fedia.io 8 points 5 hours ago

Protest is supposed to be disruptive

[-] TheCelticPirate@lemmy.world 26 points 6 hours ago

Eventually, it might make Teslas uninsurable.

[-] PurpleSkull@lemm.ee 2 points 3 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.

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 9 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 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 25 points 6 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 15 points 6 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."

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 4 points 6 hours ago

Be that as it may, you're not going to get me to even tacitly endorse arson. Sorry not sorry.

[-] dojan@lemmy.world 21 points 6 hours ago

I'm prefacing this clearly; I'm not endorsing anything here.

The current regime is restricting healthcare, trying to legislate people out of existence, and straight up disappearing people. Suffragettes torched and bombed.

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 8 points 5 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 5 points 6 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 5 points 5 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.

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[-] grue@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

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

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[-] ptz@dubvee.org 3 points 6 hours ago

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

[-] LonstedBrowryBased@lemm.ee 2 points 4 hours ago

Based

[-] griff@lemmings.world 3 points 5 hours ago

What goes around comes around

[-] Hello_there@fedia.io 4 points 5 hours ago

❤️

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this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2025
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