Elon Musk recalled an incident involving a former Tesla employee who was fired after violently assaulting a woman for accidentally stepping on his prayer rug at the company’s factory in Austin, Texas. The man, identified as Ndiaga Diagne, later killed three people in a mass shooting in the city in March 2026.
Musk recounted the incident in a recent interview with Walter Isaacson, uploaded on the YouTube channel ‘The Builders’. The discussion began when Isaacson questioned Musk about the difference between judging people as individuals and making generalisations about entire groups.
“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?” Isaacson asked Musk.
In response, Musk argued that treating people as individuals should not mean assuming that everyone has the same mindset or motivations. “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,” Musk added.
{{/usCountry}}“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,” Musk added.
{{/usCountry}}He then spoke about religious extremism, arguing that some individuals view people outside their religion as enemies or believe they should 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 recounting the incident involving the former Tesla employee.
(Also Read: Elon Musk says ‘people will find ways to be happy’ if AI makes money and work obsolete in future)
What Musk said about the former Tesla employee
Musk said the employee had worked at Tesla’s Austin factory until December 2025, when he was fired after assaulting a woman 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 recalled.
"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, violently assaulted her. So he was fired for that,” he said.
He further claimed the man subsequently carried out a shooting in downtown Austin, killing three people. “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,” he said.
Who was Ndiaga Diagne?
Authorities identified Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalised US citizen originally from Senegal, as the gunman in the March 1, 2026, shooting in Austin’s West Sixth Street district. According to a report by CNN, the attack left three people dead and 13 others injured. Diagne was shot and killed by police at the scene.
A US Department of Homeland Security official told CNN that Diagne entered the United States on March 13, 2000, on a B-2 tourist visa. He married a US citizen and adjusted his status to lawful permanent resident in June 2006 before becoming a naturalised US citizen on April 5, 2013.
The gunman was reportedly wearing a sweatshirt bearing the words “Property of Allah” and another shirt featuring an Iranian flag design.
(Also Read: MrBeast asks Elon Musk to lend him Tesla’s flying Roadster for a video)
How the Austin shooting unfolded
The shooting took place shortly before 2 am local time outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden on Austin’s Sixth Street, a busy nightlife district near the University of Texas. According to Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis, officers responded within a minute of receiving the first emergency call and confronted the suspect at a nearby intersection, where they shot him dead.
Investigators said the suspect had circled the area multiple times before opening fire. He initially fired a pistol through the window of his SUV at people gathered on the bar’s patio and outside the establishment. He then exited the vehicle with a rifle and continued shooting at pedestrians in the vicinity before police intervened. The attack killed three people and injured 13 others.