A Tesla Cybertruck exploded outdoors a lodge belonging to US President-elect Donald Trump in Las Vegas, killing no less than one particular person and wounding seven, police stated on Wednesday.

US President Joe Biden stated authorities had been investigating any hyperlinks between the Las Vegas explosion and an attack earlier on Wednesday in New Orleans, the place a truck plowed right into a crowd of New Year’s revelers, killing no less than 15.

However, Biden cautioned that no such hyperlinks had but been discovered.

Isolated incident

The FBI and native regulation enforcement stated they believed the Tesla blast was an remoted incident, however they had been investigating whether or not it was an “act of terrorism.”

The electrical car – made by the corporate owned by Trump backer Elon Musk – pulled as much as the Trump International Hotel’s glass entrance earlier than a “large explosion,” Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill instructed reporters.

Video footage exhibits the stainless-steel truck parked on the lodge entrance earlier than bursting into flames, adopted by smaller explosions that appeared much like fireworks.

McMahill stated there was “one deceased individual inside the Cybertruck,” whereas seven folks obtained “minor” accidents.

He stated the lodge had been evacuated.

He instructed a later information convention that the again of the truck contained gasoline and tenting gas canisters, in addition to “large firework mortars.”

McMahill additionally stated the truth that it was a Cybertruck “really limited the damage… because it had most of the blast go up through the truck and out,” noting that the glass doorways of the lodge, only a few ft away, “were not even broken by that blast.”

Biden stated authorities had been probing “any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans.”

“Thus far, there’s nothing to report on that score,” he stated.

FBI agent Jeremy Schwartz described the Las Vegas blast as “an isolated incident.”

He stated that an FBI joint terrorism activity power was conducting the investigation with two predominant targets – to substantiate the id of the “subject involved in this incident” and to find out “whether this was an act of terrorism or not.”

‘Unrelated to the vehicle itself’

In a submit on X, South Africa-born Elon Musk wrote that Tesla’s senior group is investigating the matter.

”We have now confirmed that the explosion was attributable to very giant fireworks and/or a bomb carried within the mattress of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the car itself,” Musk wrote.

“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken,” Musk added.

Inspired by Islamic State group

There had been indications that the suspect within the New Orleans assault had been impressed by the Islamic State group, Biden stated.

McMahill stated that they had “no indication” to this point that the blast in Las Vegas had any comparable hyperlinks to the jihadist group.

However, he added: “It’s a Tesla truck, and we know Elon Musk is working with President-elect Donald Trump, and it’s the Trump tower.”

“So there’s obviously things to be concerned about there and that’s something we continue to look at,” McMahill stated.

Musk, who backed Trump within the November election and was named by the Republican to move up a fee to trim authorities spending, stated in a submit on his social media platform X that the explosion was “unrelated to the vehicle itself.”

He stated earlier the “whole Tesla senior team” was investigating the blast, including: “We’ve never seen anything like this.”

The truck had been rented in Colorado via the carsharing firm Turo, police stated – the identical app that was used to hire the car within the New Orleans assault.

McMahill stated that was a “coincidence… that we have to continue to look in to.”

A spokesperson for the app, utilized by hundreds of thousands of individuals within the United States, stated they had been working with regulation enforcement, however that neither renter “had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.”

Would you contemplate shopping for a Tesla Cybertruck – for those who might afford it?

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By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse