Law enforcement investigating damage to Tesla charging station in Washington state
By Graham Hurley, CNN
(CNN) — Police and the FBI are investigating after a Tesla charging station was set on fire in Lacey, Washington early Tuesday morning.
A person started the fire at the Tesla supercharger station around 1:30 a.m. local time, causing “substantial damage” to the charging station and the area around it, the FBI said in a news release
The Lacey Police Department said it first learned about the incident early Tuesday when it dispatched officers “to a malicious mischief after receiving multiple calls reporting a loud noise in the area.” Its detectives are working with federal partners to investigate the incident.
Malicious mischief can be a felony charge depending on the amount of monetary damage caused, according to Washington state law.
The FBI published photos Friday of a person they say is the suspect in the incident, wearing a black hoodie and a face covering and carrying a white bag. They urged the public to contact authorities if they recognize the suspect and to review any doorbell and security camera footage that might have captured the suspect.
Tesla vehicles, showrooms and charging stations across the country have been vandalized in recent months as Tesla CEO Elon Musk faces public backlash in relation to his position as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency and his role in slashing government staffing and budgets.
The FBI launched a task force in March to crack down on violent Tesla attacks.
Lacey is about 60 miles south of Seattle, where 22 Tesla vehicles have been vandalized this year as of March 30, the Seattle Police Department told CNN on Tuesday.
Last month in Las Vegas, a suspect shot at Tesla cars at a repair shop and ignited two of them with Molotov cocktails, police said.
In a statement on its @TeslaCharging X account, the company said it’s on site with the Lacey Police Department and FBI to review camera footage of the incident. It’s also working with Puget Sound Energy to get the charging station back online as soon as possible, according to the post on X.
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CNN’s Sarah Dewberry and Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.
