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One person was killed and seven were injured when a Tesla cybertruck exploded outside the newly elected president Donald Trumpis in the hotel Vegas.
Authorities are investigating the explosion as a possible act of terrorism, an official with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said ABC News. The official said the Cybertruck was loaded with firework-style mortars, but the motive is not yet known.
The explosion occurred around 8:40 a.m. Wednesday in the service area off the lobby Trump International Hotel on Las Vegas Boulevard and Sammy Davis Jr. Drive.
Las Vegas County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference that one person died in the vehicle and they were working to recover the body.
“There’s a deceased person in the Cybertruck, and I don’t know if it’s a man or a woman,” McMahill said.
“We are investigating a number of leads at this time and I am not ready to release any of that information to you yet. We can. I can tell you that there are currently seven victims who have sustained injuries from the explosion.”
The two injured were transported to UMC for treatment. McMahill said all injuries were minor and there was no further threat.
The fire has since been extinguished by the Clark County Fire Department. The cause was not immediately known, but McMahill noted during the press conference that officials did “very well aware” of the New Orleans attack in which a man deliberately drove a truck into a crowd of people celebrating the New Year just hours earlier, killing 10 people.
He said officials are “taking all the precautions we need to take to protect our community” and are “looking for secondary devices.”
“Obviously the Cybertruck, the Trump Hotel, there are a lot of questions that we have to answer,” McMahill said.
The FBI is also involved in the investigation.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” Jeremy Schwartz, the FBI’s acting special agent in charge of the Las Vegas office, told a news conference. “We don’t have a lot of answers.”
A video posted on social media showed different angles of the large explosion, which appeared to include fireworks. Guests staying at the hotel and at the surrounding estates said FOX5 that they heard several “booms” that many described as louder than New Year’s fireworks.
“The glass was shaking, it was so loud,” said one witness who was staying at Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip. CLASS.
“I looked and saw 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.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk addressed the incident on his X social media platform late Wednesday afternoon.
“The entire Tesla senior team is currently investigating this matter,” he wrote. “We will release more information as soon as we know something. We’ve never seen anything like this.”
Eric Trump, son of the president-elect and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, also announced about the fire.
He praised the fire service and local police “for their quick response and professionalism.”
The 64-story hotel is located right next to the famous Las Vegas Strip and across the street from the Fashion Show Las Vegas mall.