A Tesla Cybertruck detonated outside a hotel owned by US President-elect Donald Trump in Las Vegas on Wednesday, leaving at least one person dead and seven injured, according to authorities.
US President Joe Biden stated that investigators were looking into potential connections between the explosion in Las Vegas and an incident that occurred earlier Wednesday in New Orleans, where a truck crashed into a group of people celebrating the New Year, killing at least fifteen people.
But Biden warned that no such connections had been discovered as of yet. According to local law police and the FBI, the Tesla explosion was thought to be an isolated event.
Before a “large explosion,” Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters, the electric car approached the glass door of the Trump International Hotel.
Video footage shows the stainless steel truck parked at the hotel entrance before bursting into flames, followed by smaller explosions that appeared similar to fireworks.
McMahill said there was “one deceased individual inside the Cybertruck,” while seven people received “minor” injuries. He said the hotel had been evacuated.
He told a later news conference that the back of the truck contained gasoline and camping fuel canisters, as well as “large firework mortars.”
McMahill also said the fact that it was a Cybertruck “really limited the damage… because it had most of the blast go up through the truck and out,” noting that the glass doors of the hotel, just a few feet away, “were not even broken by that blast.”
Biden said authorities were probing “any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans.”
“Thus far, there’s nothing to report on that score,” he said.
FBI agent Jeremy Schwartz described the Las Vegas blast as “an isolated incident.”
“We do not believe that there’s a bunch of folks out there supporting this or helping this,” Schwartz said.
In a post on his social media site X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed that the explosion was “caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck,” making it “unrelated to the vehicle itself.”
The “whole Tesla senior team” was looking into the explosion, Musk said earlier, adding, “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
The reason of the explosion is still being investigated, according to the police. Citing unnamed sources, US media outlets such as NBC and CBS stated that officials were looking into it as a possible terror strike.
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