A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in flames outside the Trump Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday (January 1), killing one person and injuring at least seven others. Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the hotel showed the vehicle exploding and flames pouring out of it outside of the hotel.
The incident occurred just hours after a man drove a truck into crowds of New Year’s Day revelers in New Orleans, killing at least 10.
“Obviously a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel — there’s lots of questions that we have to answer,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a press conference.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk and an adviser to President-elect Donald Trump claims the blast was unrelated to 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,” Musk said in a post on Twitter (X). “All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
A person was found dead inside the 2024 model-year Cybertruck and seven people sustained minor injuries from the explosion, McMahill said. News reports said the fire was being investigated as a possible terrorist act. The FBI is also investigating.
“We’ve got a lot of questions,” special agent in charge Jeremy Schwartz said. “We’re deploying resources. We will continue to do that until we get to the end of this and figure out exactly what happened and why.”
