In the ongoing coverage of the March 1, 2026, Austin mass shooting that killed three and injured over a dozen, a new lawsuit claims the gunman, Ndiaga Diagne, assaulted a 65-year-old Tesla coworker at the company's Gigafactory in December 2025. The suit accuses Tesla of negligence for not supervising an employee with known aggressive tendencies.
A lawsuit filed March 6, 2026, in Travis County court accuses Ndiaga Diagne, the shooter killed by police after the Sixth Street attack, of assaulting coworker Lillian Brady on December 4, 2025, at Tesla's Gigafactory in Del Valle. The complaint details that Diagne, during a sanctioned prayer break in a common area, "violently and without provocation" grabbed the 65-year-old Brady and threw her to the ground, causing neck and back injuries.
The suit alleges Diagne was a Tesla employee with a "volatile temperament and propensity for aggression," which the company knew about but failed to address, breaching its duty of care. Brady's attorney, Robert Hilliard, noted his client only recognized Diagne from post-shooting news coverage. She reported the incident to Tesla and the Travis County Sheriff's Office, but Tesla withheld the assailant's name and video footage; the case closed after Diagne's death.
Hilliard called it "an early warning sign of a far greater danger" and accused Tesla of "stonewalling." Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis confirmed no prior department contact with Diagne. The Sheriff's Office investigated the assault but closed it due to his death. Records also show Diagne's 2022 arrest in a Texas car crash and a history of family violence that year. The FBI has interviewed Brady amid the ongoing federal shooting probe.
Tesla has not commented or confirmed Diagne's employment. The lawsuit seeks over $1 million for Brady's pain, anguish, lost wages, and medical costs, citing gross negligence. This follows reports of Diagne's earlier 2016 New York pedestrian incident.
