An individual from Tennessee is currently incarcerated after it was reported that he started putting together materials to set fire to one of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence data centers because he was angry at the billionaire and President Donald Trump.
According to the documents filed before the court, Ethan Paul Early, who is 25 years old, is being charged of carrying out an act of terrorism. According to an arrest document acquired by Law&Crime, the inquiry started on February 19 when a friend of Early’s contacted the Ashland City Police Department with concerns. This was after the defendant stated that he was furious with Musk and Trump and planned to damage the xAI facility in Memphis.
According to the allegations, Early disclosed to his acquaintance that he had started gathering the components necessary to manufacture thermite, which is a mixture of aluminum powder and iron oxide that generates a high level of heat and is commonly utilized by welders. According to the affidavit, however, the friend was able to dissuade Early from carrying out the threat and encouraged him to get rid of the materials. The police conducted an interview with Early at his residence. According to the written statement made by the officers, he acknowledged to commenting to a few friends about his desire to set fire to the institution.
According to the affidavit, the defendant also stated that he did purchase some items in order to manufacture thermite. After becoming “very upset” with Trump and Musk, he stated that he felt as though he “had to do something” about the situation. He purportedly then conducted studies on how to manufacture thermite. Early informed the police that he eventually came to the realization that he had overreacted and that he had gone “too far down the deep end.” Additionally, it is reported that Early expressed his “ashamed of himself” on the fact that he had become so “carried away” with politics. According to him, he discarded the materials that he had gathered on February 17th.
He is currently being held at the Cheatham County Jail on a bond of $500,000 after being taken there by law enforcement. Although a message was sent to his attorney requesting comment, he did not immediately respond.
Musk, who is also the manager of the Department of Government Efficiency, is the founder of xAI and chose Memphis as the location for its data center. Musk is also the owner of Tesla and SpaceX. In order for it to function, it must create a certain amount of power, which has been criticized by some. There was no explanation provided in the affidavit as to why Early was so unhappy with Trump and Musk.
Threats committed against Musk have increased in tandem with his growing public notoriety. A man from Indiana was taken into custody earlier this month on suspicion of posting a series of threatening messages on the social networking site X. One of the messages allegedly stated that the individual intended to “gut” Musk and “parade” his “corpse through the streets.”
