Tesla Cybertruck catches fire and explodes outside Trump Las Vegas Hotel, killing 1
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Tesla Cybertruck that appeared to be carrying pyrotechnics caught fire and exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel on Wednesday, authorities said. One person died and seven were injured.
A person was dead inside a futuristic-looking pickup truck and they were working to recover the body, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark County Fire Department officials said at a news conference. Seven people nearby were slightly injured and many were sent to hospital.
The fire broke out at 8:40 a.m. in the valet parking area of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, a county spokesman said in a statement.
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The truck, which was rented through the Turo app, appeared to be equipped with pyrotechnics, according to a law enforcement official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
A spokesman for Turo did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Tesla CEO Musk said on X on Wednesday afternoon, “We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried on the rental Cybertruck lathe and had nothing to do with the vehicle itself.
“The entire Tesla senior team is looking into this,” Musk said in a post on the platform after attending a New Year’s Eve party at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. “We have never seen anything like this.”
Law enforcement officials have not ruled out terrorism as a possible motive, a person familiar with the matter said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” Jeremy Schwartz, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas field office, told reporters. “We don’t have many answers.”
President Joe Biden was briefed on the bombing. Earlier on New Year’s Day, a driver rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famous French Quarter, killing at least 15 people before he was shot dead by police. The incident is being investigated as a terrorist attack and police believe the driver did not act alone.
In Las Vegas, witness Ana Bruce from Brazil said she heard three explosions.
“The first fire we saw, I guess the second one was a battery or something like that, and the third one was a big fire and the whole area was smoking and that’s when everyone was told to evacuate and stay away,” Bruce said.
Her traveling companion, Alcides Antunes, showed a video he took of flames lapping at the side of the silver vehicle.
This 64-story hotel is located directly on the Las Vegas Strip and across the street from the Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas.
Eric Trump, the president-elect’s son and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, posted information about the fire on the social media platform X.
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Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report. Snow reported from Phoenix.
