Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed disturbing new details about the man responsible for the deadly March mass shooting in downtown Austin, Texas, alleging that the gunman had previously been fired from Tesla after violently assaulting a female employee who accidentally stepped on his prayer rug. The gunman, identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, a Senegal-born naturalized American citizen, opened fire outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden on March 1, 2026, killing three people and injuring 15 others before being fatally shot by responding police officers.
Now, Musk is speaking publicly about an alleged workplace incident that occurred just three months before the deadly rampage. During an October 20 interview with biographer Walter Isaacson on The Builders, Musk described how Diagne allegedly attacked a female coworker inside Tesla’s Austin manufacturing facility in December 2025. According to Musk, the woman inadvertently stepped onto Diagne’s prayer rug while he was praying in the factory. Rather than simply addressing the accident, Diagne allegedly responded with physical violence.
