On Feb 24th, shortly before midnight, a 40-year-old individual named Lucy Grace Nelson was arrested by the Loveland Police Department at the Loveland Tesla dealership for attempting to plant explosive devices at the dealership’s premises. The arrest comes after a series of prior vandalisms conducted by Nelson, who is believed to have thrown Molotov cocktails at cars and vandalised the property five times before her arrest.
A Molotov cocktail is a hand-thrown, inexpensive, easy-to-make incendiary weapon, usually consisting of a glass bottle filled with a highly flammable liquid (such as gasoline), with a cloth wick partially submerged inside. When the wick is lit and the bottle is thrown, it shatters on impact, igniting the liquid and creating a large fire that damages everything in its proximity. Due to its low cost, Molotov cocktails are widely used by vandals and rioters around the world.
According to a report from 9News, the first incident involving Nelson occurred on January 29th, the same day the investigation into Nelson began. The incident involved throwing a Molotov cocktail at a Tesla Cybertruck, followed by a “Nazi” sign being sprayed in the vicinity of the dealership a few days later. Other incidents included additional Molotov cocktails thrown at cars in the dealership and graffiti sprayed throughout the property, including a sign reading “F*** Musk.”
Nelson was taken to Larimer County Jail on three separate charges: use of explosives or incendiary devices (Class 2 felony), criminal mischief (Class 6 felony), and criminal attempt to commit Class 3 felony (Class 4 felony). The police issued a $100,000 cash surety bond, which Nelson posted, resulting in release from custody.
As per the same 9News report, the most recent incident targeting the Loveland dealership happened on March 7th, two weeks after Nelson was arrested. Based on a statement from the Loveland Police, nothing indicates that Nelson was responsible for the most recent incident, suggesting that this is likely a wider issue and not a personal revenge of one individual.
This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the Loveland incidents are merely one of many attacks targeting Elon Musk, whose ties to the current US president Donald Trump have recently sparked a huge public backlash. Since early March, a Tesla dealership in Oregon has had its windows shut out, a Tesla supercharging station blew up in flames, and in Berlin, a group of activists projected “Heil” onto Tesla’s Gigafactory as a response to Musk’s infamous salute controversy back in January 2025.
The Elon Musk Controversy
Over the last decade, Elon Musk has been at the centre of many controversies–both personal and professional. Not only did he recently face intense scrutiny for retweeting a message that implied Hitler did not kill millions of people, but in February, his partner, Shivon Zilis, announced the birth of their fourth child—Musk’s 14th.
The controversies surrounding the richest person in the world seem to have only intensified when Donald Trump regained the U.S. presidency and named Musk as the head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (short for DOGE, a not-so-subtle nod to Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency).
Following the election, the stock market has quickly skyrocketed to new highs, with investor sentiment very optimistic about Trump’s support for Bitcoin and Tesla. But with Tesla’s 30% stock dropping since the start of the year, the same retail investors that mindlessly gambled their life savings into the Tesla stock and Trump’s meme coin are now worried that their investments are forever gone. Despite the fact that these people broke perhaps the most fundamental rule of both investing and responsible gambling – never bet/invest what you can’t afford to lose–they seem to have found their person to blame.
Additionally, Musk has also been under intense scrutiny for being directly responsible for closing down various government institutions and initiatives that play a crucial role in the lives of people both inside the U.S. and around the globe. As a result of these policies, many Tesla owners have been selling and returning their Tesla vehicles, with Tesla sales in countries like Germany dropping as much as 76 percent in the past few months.
In what seems to be a last-ditch effort at catching a falling knife, Trump has recently pledged to buy his very own Tesla, praising Musk across both social and mainstream media for “being a great American.” And while the investor sentiment seems to have improved since Trump’s Tesla stunt, many fear that this reaction will be short-lived and that their losses will never be recouped. It’s difficult to estimate what the next couple of weeks hold for Tesla and its founder, but it’s clear that the journey back to the top will be steeper than ever before.