A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in flames outside the Trump Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring at least seven others, officials said, and the FBI said it was joining the investigation.
Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the hotel showed the vehicle exploding and flames pouring out of it, as it sat just outside 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.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and an adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, said 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 X. “All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
Telemetry involves the automatic collection of data from remote sources, transmitting it back to a central source so it can later 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 Jan. 20. Musk was a key backer of Trump in his 2024 presidential campaign and is also an adviser to Trump.
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 investigating, special agent in charge Jeremy Schwartz told the press conference.
“We’ve got a lot of questions,“ 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.”
McMahill said the Cybertruck pulled up to the Trump building at 8:40 a.m. local time. He said police were mindful of the New Orleans attack that occurred earlier on Wednesday. The FBI said a potential 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 all the precautions that we need to take to keep our community safe. We’re looking for secondary devices,“ McMahill said, adding that there did not appear to be any further threat to the community.
Las Vegas firefighters responded four minutes after the vehicle fire was reported and extinguished it. Two of the injured people were transported to hospitals with minor injuries. The Trump Hotel was evacuated after the incident and most of the visitors were moved to another hotel.
Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and a son of President-elect Trump, posted about the incident on X. “Earlier today, a reported electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochère of Trump Las Vegas,“ he wrote.
