Police are investigating a possible act of terror in Nevada after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside of President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.
One person has died, and several more were injured during the incident on Wednesday morning.
The exact cause of the violent explosion is unknown, however, authorities said they were “well aware” of the deadly terrorist attack in New Orleans, and were “taking all precautions.”
Joe Biden said in a Camp David address on Wednesday evening that investigators were trying to establish any links between the New Orleans and Las Vegas incidents.
Here’s what we know so far:
The explosion occurred around 8:40 a.m. Wednesday morning in the valet area outside of the lobby of Trump International Hotel at Las Vegas Boulevard and Sammy Davis Jr. Drive.
The 64-story hotel is just off the famed Las Vegas Strip and across the street from the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall.
Video posted on social media showed different angles of the massive explosion, which appeared to include fireworks. Footage from inside the hotel showed the burning vehicle right outside the entrance, with a series of explosions going off.
Guests staying at the hotel and on surrounding properties told FOX5 that they heard several “booms” which many described as being louder than the New Year’s Eve fireworks.
“It was shaking the glass, it was so loud,” one witness who was staying at the Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip told KLAS. “I looked out and saw smoke and me and my wife booked it out of there.”
Las Vegas County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the hotel was evacuated and guests were taken to Resorts World while police investigated.
Police initially said that the cause of the explosion was unknown, though Tesla boss Elon Musk wrote online that the company’s entire senior team was also assisting with investigations.
In a later post on X, Musk said that the incident was not due to a fault with the Cybertruck itself.
“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,” he said. “All vehicle telemetry [data collection] was positive at the time of the explosion.”
