One person was killed and seven others injured when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside of President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas.
Authorities are investigating the explosion as a possible act of terror, an official with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told ABC News, but a potential motive is not yet known. The official said the Cybertruck was carrying a load of fireworks-style mortars along with what appeared to be gasoline and camp fuel canisters .
The explosion occurred around 8:40 a.m. Wednesday in the valet area outside of the lobby of Trump International Hotel at Las Vegas Boulevard and Sammy Davis Jr. Drive.
Las Vegas County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference that one person died inside the vehicle and efforts were underway to get the body out.
"There is one deceased individual in the Cybertruck, and I don’t know whether it’s a male or female,” McMahill said.
”At this time, we are investigating a number of leads, and I’m not prepared to release any of that information to you just yet. I can tell you that there are seven victims right now that sustained injuries from the explosion,” he added.
Two of the injured were transported to University Medical Center Southern Nevada for treatment. McMahill said all the injuries were minor, and there doesn’t appear to be any further threat.
The fire has since been extinguished by the Clark County fire department. The cause wasn’t immediately known, but McMahill noted during the press conference that officials are “very well aware” of the New Orleans attack in which a man intentionally drove a truck into a crowd of people celebrating New Year’s Eve just hours earlier, killing 10 people.
He said that officials are “taking all of the precautions that we need to take to keep our community safe” and that they are “looking for secondary devices.”
“Obviously a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel, there are lots of questions we have to answer,” McMahill said, underscoring the close relationship between the president-elect and Tesla founder Elon Musk.
Tesla CEO Musk took the opportunity to praise Tesla’s Cybertruck for being so sturdy that he said it helped contain the blast. “The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards,” he wrote in a post on X.
The FBI is also involved in the investigation.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” Jeremy Schwartz, acting FBI Special Agent in Charge for the Las Vegas office, said at the news conference. “We don’t have a lot of answers.”
Video posted on social media showed different angles of the massive explosion, which appeared to include fireworks. Guests staying at the hotel and on surrounding properties told FOX5 that they heard several “booms” which many described as being louder than the New Year’s Eve fireworks.
“It was shaking the glass, it was so loud,” one witness who was staying at the Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip told KLAS.
“I looked out and see smoke and me and my wife booked it out of there.”
McMahill said the hotel was evacuated and guests were taken to Resorts World while police investigated.
Musk noted on X that the ”whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now. Will post more information as soon as we learn anything. We’ve never seen anything like this.”
Eric Trump, a son of the President-elect and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, also posted about the explosion.
He praised the fire department and local law enforcement “for their swift response and professionalism.”
The 64-story hotel is just off the famed Las Vegas Strip and across the street from the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall. It released a statement on X.
“Earlier today a reported electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochère of Trump Las Vegas,. The safety & well-being of our guests and staff remain our top priority. We extend our gratitude to the Las Vegas Fire Department and local law enforcement for their swift response.”
President Biden has directed his team to offer any federal assistance needed, the White House said.
