By David Shepardson and Karen Brettell
(Reuters) – A Tesla (NASDAQ ) Cybertruck exploded in flames outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring at least seven others, officials said, and the FBI said it would join the investigation.
Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the hotel showed the vehicle exploding and flames coming out of it, while it was right outside the hotel.
The incident occurred just hours after a man drove a truck into a crowd of New Year's Day revelers in New Orleans, killing at least 10 people.
“Obviously, a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel… there are a lot of questions we have to answer,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference.
Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, said the explosion was unrelated to the Cybertruck itself.
“We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried on the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is not related to the vehicle itself,” Musk said in a post on vehicle was positive at the time of the explosion.”
Telemetry involves the automatic collection of data from remote sources and transmitting it to a central source so that it can then be analyzed.
The Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is part of the Trump Organization, the company of President-elect Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20. Musk was a key backer of Trump in his 2024 presidential campaign and is also an advisor to Trump.
One person was found dead inside the 2024 Cybertruck and seven people suffered minor injuries from the explosion, McMahill said.
News reports said the fire was being investigated as a possible terrorist act.
The FBI is investigating, Special Agent in Charge Jeremy Schwartz said at the news conference.
“We have a lot of questions,” Schwartz said. “We are deploying resources. We will continue to do so until we get to the end of this and find out exactly what happened and why.”
McMahill said the Cybertruck stopped at the Trump building at 8:40 a.m. local time. He said police were aware of the New Orleans attack that occurred earlier Wednesday. The FBI said a possible explosive device was found in the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack.
“As you can imagine, with an explosion here on iconic Las Vegas Boulevard, we are taking every precaution necessary to keep our community safe. We are looking for secondary devices,” McMahill said, adding that there appears to be no additional threat to the community.
Las Vegas firefighters responded four minutes after the vehicle fire was reported and extinguished it. Two of the injured were taken to hospitals with minor injuries. The Trump Hotel was evacuated after the incident and most visitors were moved to another hotel.
Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and son of President-elect Trump, posted about the incident on x. “Earlier today, an electric vehicle fire was reported at the Trump Las Vegas driveway,” he wrote.
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