Elon Musk: the Austin shooter was fired from Tesla for attacking an employee

What Musk said

The man who carried out a mass shooting near a bar in Austin, Texas, on March 1 had previously worked at a Tesla plant and was fired after attacking an employee. Elon Musk revealed this in an interview with writer Walter Isaacson. According to the entrepreneur, Ndiaga Diene, a native of Senegal, worked at the Tesla facility in Texas until December 2025. On one of his workdays, the man was praying, having laid out a prayer mat on the plant grounds. A woman passing by accidentally stepped on it, after which, Musk claims, Diene brutally attacked her. Following the incident, the company's management decided to dismiss the employee, the businessman said. Several months later, the former employee carried out an armed attack in downtown Austin.

The employee's lawsuit

The conflict at the plant became known back in the spring. In March, a 65-year-old Tesla employee filed a lawsuit against the company, stating that Diene had attacked her during a prayer break. The woman accused the automaker of failing to ensure employee safety and demanded compensation of more than one million dollars.

Timeline and investigation data

The attack near Buford's Backyard Beer Garden took place in the early morning of March 1, 2026. According to updated FBI data, three people were killed and 15 others were injured in the shooting. Diene, 53, who had received US citizenship in 2013, was shot dead by responding police officers. In May, the FBI reported that the investigation had found no evidence of the shooter's ties to foreign terrorist organizations or of his receiving instructions from outside. However, investigators were unable to establish a definitive motive for the attack; the investigation continued.

Context and significance

Earlier, Life.ru reported on a shooting at an elementary school in the American city of Bend, Oregon. According to preliminary data, the victims were three children and one adult. The suspected attacker turned out to be a 16-year-old teenager, who also died; the FBI joined the investigation. Musk's statement links the Austin attack to the previously known incident at the Tesla plant, which became known from the employee's lawsuit back in March. For the company, this means the continuation of a legal dispute over employee safety, and for investigators, a new layer of questions about why the fired employee carried out the attack months later; according to the FBI, a definitive motive has not yet been established.