AUSTIN, Texas — The gunman who carried out the mass shooting in Austin last weekend allegedly assaulted a Tesla employee three months earlier, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.
The lawsuit claims that Ndiaga Diagne, who killed three people and wounded more than a dozen while wearing a shirt with Iranian regime insignia, attacked 65-year-old Tesla employee Lilian Brady in December. Brady reportedly did not know her attacker’s identity until recognizing him in news coverage of the shooting, her lawyer Robert Hilliard told CBS News. FBI investigators have since interviewed her.
Diagne was killed by police after firing into a crowd on a bar patio on March 1. Authorities said he was armed with a handgun and an AR-style rifle, and a Quran was found in the SUV he used. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said her department had no prior contact with him.
The lawsuit alleges Diagne, possibly a Tesla employee, grabbed Brady while she was on a walking path and threw her to the ground. It accuses Tesla of negligence for allowing an employee with “known aggressive tendencies” into a common area and seeks damages exceeding $1 million.
Brady reported the December assault to Tesla and the Travis County Sheriff’s Office but could not identify Diagne at the time or obtain video evidence. The sheriff’s office confirmed it investigated but closed the case because the suspect was deceased.
Hilliard suggested the December incident may have been an early warning of the danger Diagne later posed. Tesla has not commented on the lawsuit, and his employment has not been independently verified.