Specifically, authorities suspect that fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel were linked to a detonation system activated by the driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that went off outside a Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning, according to a law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation.
The FBI was trying to establish whether the incident was an act of terrorism, Jeremy Schwartz, the acting special agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s Las Vegas office, said Wednesday. It was an isolated incident, and there is no additional threat to the public, Schwartz said.
The hotel called in a vehicle fire at 8:40 a.m., and when crews arrived, a 2024 Cybertruck was found to be fully-engulged in flames, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference.
McMahill said Wednesday evening that one person is dead inside the Cybertruck, with the body still there as authorities carry out their investigation.
The explosion injured seven victims, all of whom are in stable condition, Deputy Fire Chief Billy Samuels said.
The car was rented in Colorado and arrived in Las Vegas at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to McMahill.
About an hour later, having driven up and down Las Vegas Boulevard, the truck arrived in front of the Trump Hotel and exploded, the authorities said Wednesday evening.
Security camera footage shows the motorist driving past the Trump Hotel in Vegas roughly 60 minutesbefore the car erupts in flames, then doubling back at the end of that hour and idling in front of the hotel, where the vehicle bursts into flames seconds later, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation tells PEOPLE.
Video posted on social media seems to show the vehicle billowing smoke while being washed down.
In video released by the police during a news conference, charred gasoline canisters and mortar devices for fireworks were visible in the bed of the severely burned truck.
Police said they do know the name of the person who rented the truck, but authorities are not ready to name them and want to positively identify the person in the car first.
“The fact that this was a Cybertruck really helped limit the damage that was done to the inside of the valet, as most of the blast went out through the top of the truck,” McMahill said. The glass front doors to the hotel were not broken in the explosion, he said.
“I have to thank specifically Elon Musk,” he said, adding that Musk had provided authorities “quite a bit of additional information,” even directly sending them video from Tesla charging stations to assist with their efforts to track the driver.
The vehicle was rented from the car rental company Turo, according to a law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation. McMahill called it a “coincidence” that the truck that was driven into a crowd in New Orleans was also rented via Turo, and said the authorities were looking into it. CNN has contacted the company.
“We are devastated by the violence in New Orleans and Las Vegas and our hearts are with the victims as well as their families,” a Turo spokesman said in a statement, adding that the company is “working closely” with the police.
“We have no reason to believe that either renter in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal history that would have marked them as a security risk,” the spokesperson said. “We are committed to ensuring that we remain held to the highest standards when it comes to risk management,” the statement said, crediting “our world-class trust and safety technologies and teams, many of whom have previous experience in law enforcement.”
No connection between the two incidents has been confirmed by authorities at this time.
Gov. Joe Lombardo of Nevada wrote on X that his office was working with the authorities, and that he would make sure they had any resources they might need.
In a post on X, Elon Musk said as it relates to the matter Tesla is looking into the issue.
We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself,’ Musk wrote.
