ELON Musk once had a knife pulled on him by a so-called scumbag co-worker while he waited tables at a restaurant as a teen, his dad has claimed.
The Tesla CEO’s dad Errol, 77, said his then 18-year-old son quickly neutralized the threat while working in Canada.
Electromechanical engineer Errol also explained how he himself was held at gunpoint by a jealous husband at his home while Elon, now 52, and his siblings were having dinner.
Errol told The U.S. Sun, “Elon called me once after a scumbag pulled a knife on him.
“He handled it.
“Elon said he was working at a restaurant in Richmond, near Vancouver, as a waiter when one the other waiters started picking on him.
“He told the man to stop but the man escalated the issue.
"Finally, they faced each other, and the man pulled out a knife.
“Elon subdued him immediately and took the knife. He was just 18 at the time.
“It was quite a scare for me here in South Africa, unable to help him, but Elon said not to worry.”
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Elon emigrated to his mother’s home country of Canada from South Africa in 1989 and at first set himself up in Montreal.
He later moved to Vancouver and reportedly worked on a farm and cleaning boilers at a lumber mill.
In 1990 he enrolled in Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, before transferring two years later to the University of Pennsylvania.
Bestselling writer Walter Isaacson claimed in a biography of the tech tycoon published last year that he had been no stranger to violence growing up in apartheid era South Africa.
'POOL OF BLOOD'
Isaacson wrote that as a young teen, Musk and his brother Kimbal once had to “wade through a pool of blood next to a dead person with a knife sticking out of his brain.”
He said it came as the siblings were getting off a train to an anti-apartheid music concert.
Errol has also had more than a few brushes with the darker side of life on several occasions.
He has previously told The U.S. Sun how he shot three intruders dead Clint Eastwood-style at a property he owned in Johannesburg while his young daughter clung to his leg.
Errol says his daughter Ali later told a trauma psychologist that she felt OK about the 1998 shooting "because my dad won.”
WILD PAST
Revealing more wild stories from his colorful past, Errol said “it's hard to count” the amount of times he’s been staring down the wrong end of a gun barrel.
One such incident came after he met a married woman and “one thing led to another.”
“We were doing an advert, me and her,” Errol explained.
The husband came to our home while Elon, Kimbal and Tosca were having supper, brandishing a huge silver revolver."
Errol Musk
“A real babe. The husband came to our home while Elon, Kimbal and Tosca were having supper, brandishing a huge silver revolver.
“I calmed him down and told him she was just trying to make him jealous.
“Later on, he shot himself.”
MORE GUN THREATS
Errol said that he had also had guns pulled on him at fraught business meetings, clubs and on the road.
He added, “A gun was levelled at me for half an hour once while I sent for rental money.
“A place rebuilding low mileage Mercedes didn't pay their rent.
“I pitched up by chance and, as I had six Mercs there, I intervened.
“I've carried a 357 next to me and when I sleep for 35 to 40 years now."
Errol Musk
“The gun was drawn and aimed at me. I asked my bank to deliver the cash.
“The gun was only lowered after the cash was counted.
“Unpleasant but typically South Africa.”
Errol added that while he was in the military he also had many instances of facing guns.
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He said, “But in civilian life it’s a bit weird.
“I've carried a 357 next to me and when I sleep for 35 to 40 years now."