Just before noon Friday, the journalists climbed through a fence marked “private property” at the plant but denied they were trespassing, Tesla said. Tesla is publicly sharing its side of the troubling incident, which occurred last Friday, in a blog post published today.







Two Reno Gazette Journal employees are facing charges after having being caught trespassing Tesla’s new Gigafactory facility in Reno, Nevada on October 9. According to Tesla, the guard “asked their names and notified them that they were trespassing on Tesla property”. In addition, that’s when things just got downright insane. “Disregarding this request, the RGJ employees entered [their company Jeep]”.

At that point, noting the RGJ ID badges hanging from their pockets, the safety manager reports asking both for their names but discovering neither would provide the requested information.

The Reno Gazette-Journal has identified the man behind the wheel of the Jeep as Andy Barron, a photographer at the publication since 1998.

“We take this situation very seriously and it is under investigation at this time”, the newspaper’s publisher, John Maher, said. When they noticed the safety manager record the vehicle’s plate number, the journalist reversed and hit the manager, resulting in a hip injury, lacerations on the right forearm, bleeding on the upper arm and scrapes on the palms. The RGJ said it has been covering its construction since ground broke.

Tesla has accused two journalists of breaking into its work-in-progress Gigafactory and assaulting security guards there, allegedly trying to run down staff in an attempt to escape.

Charged by the local Sheriff’s office with battery with a deadly weapon, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported that Barron had been arrested after the security guards on site attempted to detain him.

“A rock had been used to shatter the driver’s-side window and the driver’s-side seat belt had been cut in half“, it said in its statement, a piece of info that interestingly wasn’t mentioned in Tesla’s statement.

Apparently, this is quite the problem out there.

“We appreciate the interest in the Gigafactory, but the repeated acts of trespassing, including by those working for the RGJ, is illegal, riskyand needs to stop”, Tesla said in a blog post Tuesday.

“(W)e will not stand for assaults on our employees and are working with law enforcement to investigate this incident and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice”, they concluded.

Panicking journalists allegedly trespassing at the Gigafactory ran over two