Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently appeared on The Builders, a program hosted by biographer Walter Isaacson. While discussing immigration policy and cultural clashes, he unexpectedly brought up a major shooting that took place in Austin, Texas, in March this year.
Musk revealed that the gunman, Ndiaga Diagne, who killed three people, had previously worked at Tesla’s Austin Gigafactory. He was fired after violently attacking a female colleague who had accidentally stepped on his prayer rug. Several months later, Diagne opened fire in Austin’s Sixth Street bar district, killing three people and injuring 15 before being shot dead by police.
Musk: Female employee accidentally steps on prayer rug, then is violently attacked
In an interview on The Builders released on October 20, Isaacson asked Musk for his views on immigration and the integration of different cultures. Musk said society should not assume that everyone shares the same values, and argued that immigration systems must identify extremists who may resort to violence.
He cited a real case at Tesla’s Austin factory. Musk said the man had been praying inside the factory when a female employee, not expecting anyone to be engaging in religious activity there, accidentally stepped on his prayer rug. The man then assaulted her and was fired by Tesla.
Musk went on to say that several months later, the same man killed three people at a bar in downtown Austin.
65-year-old employee injured after being thrown to the ground sues Tesla for negligence
According to a March 6 report by CBS News and materials made public by the victim’s law firm, Hilliard Law, 65-year-old Tesla employee Lillian Mendoza Brady alleges that on December 4, 2025, she was attacked by her praying coworker, Ndiaga Diagne, while working at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas.
The lawsuit says Tesla allowed employees to pray as part of their religious practice in public areas of the factory. During a company-approved prayer break, Diagne suddenly grabbed Brady and threw her to the ground, injuring her neck and back. Brady alleges that Tesla knew or should have known before the incident that Diagne had aggressive tendencies, but failed to take appropriate supervisory or preventive measures.
What further upset Brady was that, according to her lawyer, Robert Hilliard, she repeatedly asked Tesla after the incident to identify her attacker but was unable to obtain the information. It was not until months later, when the Austin shooting made the news, that she recognized the man who had attacked her in media footage. Brady therefore filed a lawsuit against Tesla on March 5 this year in the Travis County District Court in Texas, seeking more than $1 million in damages.
March Austin bar shooting: three dead, 15 injured
In the early hours of March 1, 2026, 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne opened fire near Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden on Sixth Street in downtown Austin, causing multiple casualties.
According to an investigative update released by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on May 7, Diagne was born in Senegal and became a U.S. citizen in 2013. He legally purchased a handgun and a rifle in 2017. During the incident, he used those firearms to attack people near the bar, and ultimately died after exchanging gunfire with responding police officers.
Three victims were killed: 19-year-old Ryder Harrington, 21-year-old Savitha Shanmugasundaram, and 30-year-old Jorge Pederson. Another 15 people were injured.
Because the shooter was wearing clothing with Iran-related imagery, and the incident occurred around the time the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran, the FBI initially included a possible terrorist motive among its lines of investigation.
However, the FBI’s May investigative update said Diagne was believed to have acted alone. There was no evidence that he was directed, funded, or assisted by an international terrorist organization, or that he had been radicalized by one. Investigators believe his actions may have been triggered by personal factors related to the military conflict with Iran.
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