When I first saw the footage of this attempted carjacking posted in the Jacksonville, FL Facebook group by Draper Younce, at the first glance, I thought it was from a video game, I was wrong. This is actually a real incident that took place in an apartment complex parking lot in Jax.
Tesla Model 3 owner of 2 months, Younce was enjoying some free time in his electric car when suddenly a carjacker with a pistol in his hand appeared from behind a parked SUV at the rear end of the parking lot. The carjacker pointed the gun at Younce’s face and asked him to “get out the car, I am taking your car” (full Tesla carjacking video below).
When Younce reacted with the escape attempt using his Tesla’s instant acceleration, the carjacker shot a bullet towards him which luckily hit the car and he came out safe from this situation. The bullet had hit just under the left B-pillar on the rear door trim (pic below), resulting in the breaking of the glass covering the B-pillar and the side camera.
“I saw my opportunity to escape, ducked to the right, I accelerated as hard as I could,” Younce told Fox30 / Action News Jax in an interview. Military training and 15 years of experience as a Navy sailor benefitted Younce in this situation.
In a panic or accident situation, the driver just needs to honk the horn of a Tesla to record the footage from a Tesla’s multiple cameras (front, side repeaters, rear). This recorded footage is saved on a USB flash drive set up by the owner for recording this sort of incident and vandalism against a Tesla (aka Sentry Mode).
Probably the carjacker in this video was not aware of a Tesla recording video of its surroundings like this. Additionally, a PIN is required to drive a Tesla if the owner has enabled the security feature introduced a few years ago.
Attempted carjacking Tesla! Acceleration, doors, and cameras save my life! I got a bullet hole in my car now. I need a bulletproof one Elon Musk, can I trade-in? Y’all can do some tests on a Model 3 ability to take a hollow point! 15 years in the military 8 deployed and shot first in the US.
Draper Younce on Twitter
Younce has started a Gofundme campaign to reward anyone who is able to help in catching this suspect. In the past, Tesla vandals had to turn themselves to the Sacramento police when their act went viral and national television also covered the incident, but at the time, their faces were fully visible.
As of yesterday, Younce’s Model 3 is at the Tesla Service Center to get repaired for the damage done by the bullet. He also has a random battery issue that probably is going to be fixed by the Tesla service staff.
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