Flames rise from a Tesla Cybertruck after it exploded outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the United States, on Wednesday in this screengrab taken from a social media video.
LAS VEGAS — One person was killed and at least seven people were injured after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning, authorities said, and officials were investigating any possible links to an earlier attack on a crowd in New Orleans.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said during a news conference that authorities “believe this to be an isolated incident” but had not yet ruled out a connection to the Wednesday morning attack in New Orleans that killed at least 15 people.
McMahill said the authorities had found gas canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars in the back of the truck. It was unclear how they had been ignited, McMahill said.
“There is no further threat to the community,” McMahill said. As of Wednesday afternoon, there was no indication the explosion was connected to the Islamic State group, which President Joe Biden said inspired the New Orleans attack, but the investigation remains ongoing, he said.
At a news conference Wednesday, Jeremy Schwartz, the acting FBI special agent in charge in Las Vegas, said the agency was investigating whether the explosion “was an act of terrorism or not.”
‘I know everybody’s interested in that word and trying to see if we can say, ‘Hey this is a terrorist attack,'” Schwartz said. “That is our goal, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a report of an explosion around 8.40am at the Trump hotel.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, said in a statement on his social media platform, X, formerly Twitter, that “the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck” and said the vehicle was functioning properly.
Police were told that a 2024 Cybertruck “pulled up to the last entrance doors of the hotel,” McMahill said earlier at a news conference.
The driver was the only person in the truck, McMahill said, and was killed inside the vehicle. At least seven others were reported to ha
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