Oregon Tesla dealership shot at; damaged by gunfire, shattered glass
Police in Oregon are working with the FBI after gunshots were discovered at a Tesla dealership Thursday morning in the latest instance of vandalism against the carmaker.
Investigators think “at least seven shots were fired” at the building, resulting in hitting three cars total and a computer monitor, according to the Tigard Police Department, located just south of Portland.
Photos of the damage show shattered glass at the front of the building, a wall with bullet holes, as well as a damaged Cybertruck and another vehicle with a broken windshield.
“While the motivation for this has not been confirmed, we are aware of other (Tesla) dealerships that have been targeting across Oregon and the nation for political reasons,” Tigard police said.
According to investigators, Tesla employees showed up to work on Thursday and found the gunshot damage.
“Fortunately, this happened overnight when the property was unoccupied,” police said.
Tesla dealerships targeted amid layoffs, mass emails
Authorities added that they’re not sure why someone shot at the Tesla dealership, but there have been shootings at other Tesla dealerships “targeted across Oregon and the nation for political reasons.”
Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX and Tesla, was appointed a senior advisor to President Donald Trump shortly after Trump won reelection.
According to Joshua Fisher, director of the White House Office of Administration, Musk “has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself” and “can only advise the President and communicate the President’s directives.”
Of the 2.3 million federal workers in the U.S., about 100,000 workers have taken buyouts or been fired during Trump’s administration, according to Reuters.
Musk sent mass emails on Feb. 22 to federal workers asking, “What did you do last week?” He asked workers to send him five bullet points of what they accomplished the prior week and to send the reply to their managers.
A second round of emails went out on Feb. 28, reported Reuters.
More attacks on Tesla dealerships
Recently, reports of vandalism and fires have been made at Tesla dealerships in multiple states.
A man was arrested Tuesday in connection to two separate incidents at a Tesla dealership in Salem, Oregon, reported the Statesman Journal, part of the Paste BN network. The 41-year-old man is now facing a federal charge of illegally possessing an unregistered destructive device or Molotov cocktail.
Investigators working on the first incident on Jan. 20 found two fires at the dealership, including one in the back of a vehicle parked at the business. Witnesses reported seeing someone throw Molotov cocktails at the Tesla dealership and surveillance footage was also captured.
Tesla estimated the cost to be about $500,000, the Statesman Journal reported.
In another incident on Feb. 19, someone called Salem police about damaged windows at the same dealership. Officers found “projectiles believed to be spent bullets, bullet fragments, and several projectile impacts,” reported the Statesman Journal, citing court documents.
In Colorado, authorities arrested a woman on Feb. 24 for allegedly setting a Tesla dealership on fire. She was caught with more “incendiary devices” outside the dealership on Monday.
Contributing: Trevor Hughes, Joey Garrison
Saleen Martin is a reporter on Paste BN’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.