The man, identified as Ndiaga Diagne, later killed three people in a mass shooting in the city in March 2026. 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.
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. He then spoke about religious extremism, arguing that some individuals view people outside their religion as enemies or believe they should die. Diagne was shot and killed by police at the scene. 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.
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. The attack left three people dead and 13 others injured, according to a report by CNN. 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. The attack killed three people and injured 13 others.
“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. Officers responded within a minute of receiving the first emergency call and confronted the suspect at a nearby intersection, where they shot him dead, according to Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis. Investigators said the suspect had circled the area multiple times before opening fire.
