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Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Chief Executive Elon Musk on Saturday said in a social media post that he had been the target of two assassination attempts in the past eight months. The billionaire made the claim in the hours after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt.
“Dangerous times ahead,” Musk said on X, formerly Twitter. “Two people (separate occasions) have already tried to kill me in the past 8 months. They were arrested with guns about 20 mins drive from Tesla HQ in Texas.”
A gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one attendee and critically injuring two others. Trump said he was struck in the right ear by the shooter, who was killed by Secret Service snipers.
Musk’s statement followed his endorsement for Trump as the next president. Musk said he donated to Trump’s campaign and that, “Last time America had a candidate this tough was Theodore Roosevelt.”
In the past, Musk has expressed his concerns about being assassinated. He alleged in 2022 that reporters who shared his real-time location data were giving out “assassination coordinates.”
The reports about Musk’s whereabouts were based on publicly available flight information showing the location of his private plane. The journalist accounts were banned on X, which Musk owns.
Musk also was the target of threats from former Russian space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin. “If I die under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya,” Musk said in response.
In the hours after the assassination attempt on Trump, Musk criticized the Secret Service.
“Extreme incompetence or it was deliberate,” Musk wrote. “Either way, the SS leadership must resign.”
Musk also mocked the head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, in a repost that showed her background as a senior director and snack and beverage giant PepsiCo.
“So before being put in charge of protecting the presidnet, she was guarding bags of Cheetos …” Musk wrote.