Prosecutors say Tesla employee waited for coworker to get off before shooting him in head
Family of Tesla homicide victim speaks out
The family of Lee Brasier, 42, who was allegedly killed by a fellow Tesla employee, speaks out. Henry Lee reports
FREMONT, Calif. - A Tesla employee allegedly waited for his coworker to get off work, before fatally shooting him in the head in the factory's parking lot, prosecutors said.
Anthony Solima, 29, was charged Thursday with murder and the special circumstance if lying in wait, as well as possession of an assault weapon.
Solima and the victim, identified as Lee Brasier, 42, had gotten into an argument at work on Monday and Solima abruptly walked off the job, authorities said.
Death at Tesla factory called 'suspicious'
Fremont police are investigating the death of a person found at the Tesla auto plant on Monday afternoon. Homicide investigators are looking into what was called a suspicious death.
Prosecutors said Solima came back to the Tesla facility and waited in the parking lot with a .223-caliber short-barreled AR-15 and shot Brasier in the head. Brasier had just finished his shift and was leaving work when he was fatally shot. His keys were still in the door of his Toyota Tundra, authorities said.
Brasier sustained at least one gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene. He leaves behind a 7-year-old daughter.
"He was a good, loving father. He loved his daughter more than anything in the world," said Brasier's brother Jim Brasier. "He was just a good person, like a good-hearted person. He wore his heart on his sleeve."
He added, "He shouldn't have died this way."
Elizabeth Brasier said her brother-in-law was "very loyal. He would give you the shirt off his back. If we called him, no matter what time of day or night, he would come and be there."
Solima was arraigned Thursday and remains in custody at Santa Rita Jail. He is being held without bail. He will return to court in January to enter a plea.
Suspicious death at Tesla factory
Fremont homicide detective are investigating the death of a person who was found in the parking lot of Tesla's factory on Monday afternoon. Police have called it a "suspicious death" but not revealed other information about what transpired.