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Comment by rchaud | Hacker News Reader

"Later that day, Tripp heard from the sheriff’s department in Storey County, Nev. Tesla’s security department had passed a tip to police. An anonymous caller had contacted the company to say Tripp was planning a mass shooting at the Gigafactory."

Think of how this could have played out under different circumstances. We've already had numerous "swatting" incidents where innocent bystanders were hurt or killed.

The more I see Musk doing stupid pseudo-celebrity stuff like appearing on a kiddy Youtube channel to "review memes", the more I think he's eventually going to go the swatting route one day. He's extremely thin-skinned and responds on Twitter to even the slightest perceived slight.

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I can conclusively say that I will never be giving Tesla any of my money.

I can grant credit where credit is due, Tesla did show the world and the market that an electric vehicle can have appeal and doesn't have to look like a glorified golf cart.

But I'm not going to reward them for the appalling behavior of their CEO and/or people acting at his direction in other areas.

He's really gone off the deep end and I'm wondering if this isn't a little bit of mental illness.

I'm WAY less bullish on Tesla than I was a year ago.

His behavior is insane. The value of the Tesla just isn't there either and it COULD be but the over-promising and under-delivering needs to end.

I imagine running multiple businesses and working crazy hours isn't helping.

Musk seems to have narcissist issue, IMO.

Severe stress coupled with prolonged sleep deprivation will do that to you.

I don't understand how we're jumping to the conclusion that Musk is responsible for this. No one seems to be claiming the "anonymous call" was made up, as far as I can tell. For all we know Tripp made the call himself to make himself look like more a victim. It's no less plausible than suggesting Musk made the call himself, or had someone make it on his behalf.

Read the article man. He kept pressing the police on it even though everyone involved knew it was all bullshit. The original tipster doesn't even matter at that point.

"The sheriff says that when he’d looked into the anonymous call after police confronted Tripp, the threat seemed less threatening than the company made it sound. The caller said Tripp was volatile but didn’t say he was on his way to shoot up the place. “You remember playing telephone as a kid?” Antinoro asks. “It got blown out of proportion.” He dropped the investigation when Tesla declined to make available a colleague of Tripp’s who might have called in the tip."

So basically an emotional phone call was recounted by a chain of people and blown out of proportion. Then the company felt the need to publicize it in order to get a little dirt on the shoes of the would be (and ultimately failed) whistleblower.

The sheriff sounds like a great and honest fellow, but the rest of this is just a mess. Of course, one employee running to the press with a "whistleblower" story that turns out to be misleading rubbish and doing billions of dollars in market damage isn't great. Responding to him this way isn't great.

What a mess.

The more boring answer is that Musk's thin skin promotes a culture of pettyness, and someone at Tesla did it without direction.

No one seems to be claiming the "anonymous call" was made up, as far as I can tell.

The "call" as such wasn't made up -- apparently Tripp did make a call the company, and in a state of considerable emotional agitation.

Rather, it's the part about threatening to shoot the place up that was (according to the local Sheriff involved) basically made up (by the company, in its reporting to the press).

The sheriff debunked it, and then Tesla tried to get the sheriff to hype up the event. The sheriff declined, and then Tesla (according to the sheriff) leaked it to the press.

https://twitter.com/willCIR/status/1105906726782435328

In Iowa they would have faced criminal blacklisting charges under Iowa Code 730.

I can't help but think of the "joe job"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_job

Where is the proof? The Bloomberg story is as one sided as it gets. "An anonymous caller" == Elon Musk responsible?

There might not be much in the way of proof, but it's an interesting story. Tesla calls police, says Tripp has threatened to shoot up place. Police investigate, say "no threat". Tesla says, "Hey, hold a press conference about it anyway!", sheriff declines, says "Can I speak to the person who says he called in a threat?". Tesla declines to make any witnesses available (which, huh? How can a company 'decline' to make a witness available for a criminal threat), but sends out their own press release anyway.

If the person who called in the anonymous threat declines to come forward its hardly up to Tesla to disclose their identity.

Huh?

No. For one, it wasn't described as an anonymous threat. Tesla reported to the police that they'd received a threat from Tripp. The police said "can we speak to the person who received it?", and Tesla said "Uh, no".

But then expected the police to hold press conference to talk about how Tripp is a violent, dangerous menace.

> The more I see Musk doing stupid pseudo-celebrity stuff like appearing on a kiddy Youtube channel to "review memes"

False prophet, this is why celebrity cult sucks

I can't get 2 hours without seeing a meme of him, HN article etc. Been happening for 2 years.

Sounds very Google'y. Seeks out law enforcement over every little thing (they've done) like a bunch of passive-aggressive cowardly nerds. They shit, accuse, and are then magically "scared for their lives."

How much did Tripp make for providing this valuable service to society . If stomping on a quick buck making piece of shit is the elon way I'm down with it.

Not to mention that Bloomberg and his chrones want Tesla dead at any cost and are so blinded by thier ego and the fact that elon doesn't kiss the ring of the "wall Street analyst" ass clowns. I mean who even gives a shit about Twitter the guy speaks his mind , if I were interested in investing I would focus much more on value created .

Perhaps the whole point was making sure that side of the story never gets told to prevent any more reputational damage. Since Musk was personally informed that Tripp threatened to shoot people in the factory you'd expect some cooperation with the authorities. Instead the investigation was shut down when Tesla declined to make any possible witness available.

As a singular incident it wouldn't garner to much attention but Tripp's account is adding to the pile already.

Edit. Funny how all my comments received the same number of downvotes at almost the same time.

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