Elon Musk has recalled a disturbing incident involving a former Muslim employee, Ndiaga Diagne, at Tesla who assaulted a woman for accidentally stepping on his prayer rug at the factory before going on to kill three people in a mass shooting in Austin, Texas. Musk shared the account during a recent interview with his biographer, Walter Isaacson, uploaded on the YouTube channel ‘The Builders’. During the conversation, Musk discussed religious extremism, individual identity and the risks posed by people who hold extreme beliefs.
The discussion began when Isaacson questioned Musk about the difference between judging people as individuals and making generalisations about entire groups. Isaacson said, “But one of the things our country’s founded on is individuals versus group identities. Do you worry that sometimes when you make sweeping generalisations, you’re making a group identity rather than saying the foundational ethic of the United States, which is that individuals get treated separately?”
Elon Musk reveals that an ex-Tesla employee who assaulted a woman for stepping on his prayer rug went on to kill three students in Austin. MUSK: "We had someone who was working at the Tesla factory in Austin until December of last year. He was fired because he assaulted a woman who stepped on his prayer rug in the factory. Okay. So she wasn’t expecting anyone to be praying in the factory, and he was praying in the factory. She accidentally stepped on his prayer rug, and he assaulted her. He violently assaulted her. So he was fired for that, and then a few months later, he went and killed three students in a bar in downtown Austin. Now, I think we shouldn’t let people like that into the country. Do you?"
— Tony Jacob | FindaClip.com (@tonjkb) October 20, 2026
In response, Musk argued that treating people as individuals does not mean assuming that everyone has the same mindset or behaves in the same way. “Yes, but you can’t conflate that with the sort of blank slate fallacy that all people are exactly the same at their core. They’re not. This is just an obvious falsehood,” he said.
“You know, you can’t put yourself in the mind of a serial killer unless you’re a serial killer. Like, unless you enjoy murdering people. You can’t imagine why someone would do such a thing,” he added.
He then referred to people who believe that those outside their religion are enemies or deserve to die. “But you can obviously recognise there are people who do have that mindset and that if you let them into the country, they will kill people,” Musk said before bringing up the example of the former Tesla employee.
Musk recalls former Tesla employee’s assault over prayer rug
Musk said the man had been working at Tesla’s factory in Austin until December last year, when he was fired following an alleged assault on a female colleague who accidentally stepped on his prayer rug.
“We had someone who was working at the Tesla factory in Austin until December of last year. He was fired because he assaulted a woman who stepped on his prayer rug in the factory,” Musk said.
Elon Musk recounts a disturbing case involving a former Tesla employee who was fired after assaulting a woman, then later allegedly killed three students in Austin. Musk argues that immigration screening and public safety need to be taken seriously. How do we prevent tragedies like this? https://t.co/XhNY2oZX9n
— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) October 21, 2026
He added that the woman had not expected anyone to be praying in the factory and stepped on the rug accidentally. According to Musk, the man responded by violently assaulting her, leading to his dismissal. “So he was fired for that. And then a few months later, he went and killed three students in the bar in downtown Austin,” Musk said.
Concluding his account, Musk argued that authorities should take such warning signs seriously when deciding whom to allow into the country. “Now, I think we shouldn’t let people like that into the country,” he said.
Ex-Tesla employee identified as Austin mass shooter
The man Musk referred to was identified by authorities as Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalised US citizen originally from Senegal. He was identified as the gunman in the deadly mass shooting in Austin’s West Sixth Street entertainment district on 1st March, 2026.
According to media reports, the attack began outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden, where Diagne opened fire from a vehicle before continuing the shooting on foot with a rifle. Police officers subsequently shot and killed him, bringing the attack to an end. The shooting killed three people and injured more than a dozen others, making it one of the deadliest attacks in Austin in recent years.
The FBI later released an update on its investigation into the shooting on 7th May, stating that Diagne acted alone and that there was no evidence he was associated with a foreign terrorist organisation or received any direction, funding or operational support for the attack. The shooting at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden killed three people and injured 15 others.
Although investigators found no conclusive evidence explaining his motive, the FBI said Diagne’s violent behaviour appeared to be linked, in part, to personal triggers and grievances related to US and Israeli military actions involving Iran.
According to the agency, Diagne admired Iran’s former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the strikes. Investigators said his affinity for Iran and Khamenei may have influenced the attack, which they described as a “violent, impulsive attack”. However, the investigation has not established a conclusive motive.
Lawsuit reveals Tesla employee was violently assaulted before shooting
Days after the shooting, a civil lawsuit filed on 5th March in Travis County district court revealed that Diagne had previously attacked a female co-worker at a Tesla facility on 4th December, 2025. The plaintiff, identified as Lillian Brady, is over 65 years old.
According to the lawsuit, Diagne “violently and without provocation” assaulted Brady in a common area during a company-sanctioned prayer break. Her attorney, Bob Hilliard, told KXAN that she had repeatedly asked Tesla to identify the man who attacked her so that she could press charges, but the company refused to provide his name.
The attorney said Brady recognised Diagne after seeing his face on the news following the Austin shooting. The lawsuit questions what Tesla knew about the assault and whether the company took the incident seriously enough.
The complainant sued Tesla and accuses it of negligence, saying that it knew or should have known about Diagne’s volatile temperament but failed to provide adequate supervision and security. It seeks more than $1 million in damages and also says that the assault amounted to the felony offence of injury to an elderly individual under Texas law.
