One person was killed and seven others injured after a Cybertruck burst into flames just outside the glass front doors of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning. Police and FBI officials said the type of vehicle and location of the fire raises many questions.
The incident came just hours after a driver in New Orleans killed 15 people and injured dozens more after ramming his pickup truck into a crowd celebrating New Year's. The FBI is investigating at least one suspected improvised explosive device found at the scene of a so-called terrorist attack.
“As you can imagine, in the face of an explosion here on an iconic Las Vegas boulevard, we are taking every precaution we must to ensure the safety of our community,” said Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. “We are looking for second devices. We are taking it slowly and will make sure we stay safe in our community.”
McMahill said there appeared to be no further threat from the explosion, which killed the unidentified driver of the vehicle and left seven people with minor injuries. He urged the community to stay away from the area.
McMahill said they were following up on a number of leads but could not immediately release further information about the incident, which was reported at 8:40 a.m. Wednesday.
“But obviously a Cybertruck… the Trump Hotel “There are a lot of questions we need to answer as we move forward with this,” he said.
Cybertrucks are manufactured by Elon Musk's company Tesla. Musk is part of President-elect Donald Trump's inner circle. This has led to concerns on social media that it was a politically motivated attack.
Jeremy Schwartz, acting FBI special agent in charge of the Las Vegas office, said many questions remain unanswered but additional resources have been deployed to “find out exactly what happened.”
McMahill said the Cybertruck 2024 pulled up to the front of the hotel “right up to the glass front doors of the hotel.”
“We saw smoke coming from the vehicle and then a large explosion coming from the truck,” McMahill said.
On
Eric Trump, one of the president-elect's sons, thanked first responders for their “quick response and professionalism.”
“The safety and well-being of our guests and employees remains our top priority,” he wrote on X.
Musk, who owns X, wrote on the social media platform that “Tesla's entire senior team is currently investigating this matter.”
“We have never seen anything like this,” he added.