By Caitlin Lilly and Katie Futterman
Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS — A suspect who police said set multiple Teslas on fire, used Molotov cocktails and shot three rounds into the vehicles at a Tesla Collision Center early Tuesday morning is still on the loose, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
The suspect, who police said was wearing all black, is accused of damaging at least five Teslas — two of which were engulfed in flames — at 2:45 a.m. The word “resist” was also painted on the door of the facility, police said. At least three gunshots were fired into the cars, police said.
The collision center is located in the 6000 block of West Badura Avenue.
“This was a targeted attack against a Tesla facility,” Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
The incident is also being investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Agents have been on the scene since early Tuesday morning, according to FBI Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans.
Evans said that while it was too early to call the incident 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.
Tesla founder Elon Musk responded to the video shared by the Review-Journal in a post on X, 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.
The Tesla vehicles set on fire Tuesday morning comes following a Cybertruck explosion outside of the 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.
Koren said that police did not have anything notable to report on a general increase in vandalism of Teslas around the valley.
Police asked anyone in the public with information to call 702-828-7777.
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This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X.
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