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.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
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.
Well they don’t have to spend their issues on child trafficking anymore because the president supports it and has made extensive use of trafficked children.
And almost all of the domestic terrorist organizations support the government now, magically.
They just need something to do now singer crime is “solved” 🙃
Those times were 30 years ago as of tomorrow. Since Oklahoma, the FBI has been very interested in domestic political violence and terror.
the FBI has been very interested in domestic political violence and terror
Not super interested in the right wingers most of the time though
Some of those that work forces something something.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I wish we had someone who could look at government to cut waste, fraud and abuse, get those guys back on serious crime
I dunno I just see highly motivated consumers that want to kick the tires and light the fires on these bad boys before signing on the dotted line. It’s similar to how those patriotic tourists toured the capital on January 6th, 2021.
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Trump isn’t happy unless he’s fucking someone over. Should people debase themselves to his level?
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Because someone doesn’t know when to stop? I believe you stop when the government works for the people again, right? Just because you like what’s happening doesn’t mean the patriotic shouldn’t revolt.
Property damage is not terrorism holy shit you’re actually putting material things on the same level as human lives.
Terrorism as defined by the FBI clearly defines property damage as terrorism.
Just because one can make up their own definitions of things, doesn’t obligate everyone else to subscribe to it.
The FBI’s long-standing definition of terrorism includes property damage.
Is blowing a railway bridge not terrorism? It’s just property. As is a water treatment plant. As is a nuclear power station.
The path of escalation to extremism is well attested to in history. For example, in Britain, the Suffragettes began by marching. Then chaining themselves to railings and slashing paintings. Then they threatened Jewish politicians as “enemies of the state”. Then they blew up mail boxes. Then they left bombs on trains. Then they tried to blow up dams to flood cities. Then they set a crowded theatre on fire to try to kill the Prime Minister, and to blow up a mail sorting office with the 200 employees in it. Many of the leaders of the WSPU later became high-ranking members of the British fascist movement, and some were detained for attempting to assist the Third Reich in infiltrating Britain.
The point is, where does the law step in to stop it? Since Oklahoma and certainly 9/11, the American doctrine has been to catch it early and prevent the higher cost attacks.
And it takes one attack that crosses the line to hand Trump his Reichstag Fire moment just like Bush had.
They should keep the FBI busy then…
This is being coordinated and cheered on by users on enormous online platforms. If there was one or two fires in a single city or even state then I’d agree the FBI probably wouldn’t even take a look.
However given the very public and national nature of these targeted events, they’re going to have a plausible excuse to investigate this as domestic terrorism.
I’m not endorsing the FBI, or calling this terrorism, just stating how it’s being handled by law enforcement.
That said, folks should know that even a small platform like Lemmy is crawling with glowies, be careful.
Well. Using feds for vandalization is not a scalable solution
Most rad thing I’ve read this week. So far, at least.
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…
Guess they also shot themselves and pooped out a Molotov.
Well, they’re known for some very strange manufacturing issues. We can’t put it past them.
I see a blank message with no edits. Why does this have 11 upvotes?
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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.
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)
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.
Honestly, it would be funnier if someone sprayed them with muriatic acid. (Hydrochloride acid)
The damage to the metal is not fixable (as in, the rust can be cleaned away, but the damaged areas just keep re-rusting). It avoids the issue of insurance payments (just clean it, bro), and of burning the vehicles (releasing pollution). It basically marks the car for life, makes it unsellable, and, full offense, if someone buys one, they deserve a lifetime of annoying maintenance issues. Fuck their gleaming monument to fascism.
Ehhhh, that makes it a chemical terrorist attack. If it’s not classified as that now, it will be the first time it’s tried. Plus that’s significantly more dangerous than a Molotov or a gun.
I’ve seen too many Molotov Gone Wrong videos to agree with you.
Lol amateurs. After your first emulsion incident you learn pretty quick
You know, when I envisioned this, I imagined some person with a 5-gallon sprayer, like they use for yards/pesticides. I sort of assumed they’d be doing it alone, with no one around, and (presumably) with some knowledge/awareness of how those sprayers work - so like, protective clothing, a mask, goggles, and being upwind. But you’re right that it’s dangerous despite all that. And it’s sort of an obvious thing to be carrying around.
New mental picture of this activity: Jars that have been safely filled at home thrown from a distance while no one else is around.
Or for discretion, a tide pen that has had the contents replaced. Bonus: It will still remove stains (and the fabric).Ultimately, however, it’s not something I’d actually entertain. I don’t see that as an effective outlet for any statement I’d like to make. Surely not for the risk/reward proposition. But it’s darn funny to think about.
Yeaaaa I was thinking melting hands and faces from back spray lol. Wait, will hydrochloric acid react to plastic? If not you’d need a glass paint pen. Also we’re both on watchlists now :) shit…
Disclaimer. Don’t actually do any of this. But yes it would be a silly skit on adult swim or something.
That’s sort of the funny thing - I think my experience/exposure to muriatic acid sort of colored how cavalier I am about it. I didn’t check precise concentrations, but a gallon can be had for $10 from a hardware store. I’ve seen guys just pour it on the floor, slosh it around with a mop, and seem to have no care whatsoever about incidental skin contact or getting it on their shoes. (They did wash their hands after, but seemed unhurried to do so.)
Not that I’m advising cavalier behavior with hydrochoric acid, but perhaps I have a shifted baseline for understanding the caution one should take. (I mean - I’ve never worked directly with it myself, so…iunno.) Also very possible the products I’ve seen are a lower concentration than the ‘bubbling, foaming, melting your face’ concentrations of HCL we might otherwise expect.
It does come in a plastic bottle - HDPE, I believe, so I think a standard paint pen would work for it. Provided the wicking material was not organic, it would probably survive just fine.
fuck yeah
This doesn’t seem arson and vandalism to me. It’s clearly a Roman wildfire and Roman artwork. I don’t know why all these conservative snowflakes think that every drop of paint and fire at a Tesla dealership is a politically motivated attack. The paint and fire are clearly autistic, and just acting in the heat of the moment.
Hell yeah, cleanse the filth with the holy flame!!!
Smokin’ hot Luigi vs stone cold Luigi
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.
What goes around comes around
❤️
Oh no. Tesla burning their own cars.
They also spray-painted “Resist” on the building.
Authorities have not confirmed a political motive
PFFFFFT
