A Tesla staffer has sued the electric vehicle giant for failing to keep her safe after she was assaulted by the man who later went on to commit a mass shooting in Austin.
Lillian Mendoza Brady, 65, said that she was working with Ndiaga Diagne at the Tesla factory in Austin on December 4 when he allegedly assaulted her.
“During a sanctioned break, Defendant’s employee Ndiaga Diagne was engaged in the act of prayer in a common area,” the lawsuit, seen by The Independent, stated. “He violently and without provocation physically assaulted Plaintiff.
“Prior to this assault, Defendant had knowledge, or should have had knowledge of Ndiaga Diagne’s volatile temperament and propensity for aggression, yet took no steps to monitor the common areas or supervise sanctioned activities in those spaces.”
The lawsuit accuses the company, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, of gross negligence and failure to supervise Diagne.
The Independent has contacted Tesla for comment about the incident, for which Brady is seeking over $1 million in damages.
Police identified Diagne as the suspected gunman in the shocking incident last weekend at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden in Austin, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning and left three people dead and many more injured.
The 53-year-old, who was wearing a hoodie emblazoned with the words “Property of Allah,” was killed by officers at the scene. Authorities are investigating whether the attack was motivated by U.S. operations in Iran, which had begun the day before.
His home was raided by officials on Sunday, with investigators allegedly uncovering an Iranian flag and a series of images depicting Islamic Republic officials at the address. A neighbor of the gunman, Todd Bruder, told The Austin American-Statesman that Diagne and his family were devout Muslims.
Officials also told the newspaper that Diagne, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Senegal, was known to state authorities in relation to previous mental health episodes.
Sources at CBS News claimed that Diagne arrived in the United States in 2000. He acquired a green card in 2006 and was naturalized in 2013, spending time in New York before moving to Texas.
Austin police said a total of 19 people were injured during the attack at the beer garden. The three people who died were named as 19-year-old Ryder Harrington, 21-year-old Savitha Shan, and 30-year-old Jorge Pederson
