The explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck in front of a hotel owned by President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday is now being investigated by the FBI for potential ties to terrorism.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the Cybertruck’s construction limited the impact of the blast on the surrounding structure.
The investigation also searched for any connection to the New Orleans Cybertruck attack that killed 15 people Wednesday night, but investigators there have determined the attacker acted alone.
The Cybertruck exploded after the driver pulled into the valet space in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. The driver was killed and the blast injured seven people. Las Vegas officials as well as Tesla CEO Elon Musk have confirmed the explosion was not related to the truck’s battery or any other failure of the vehicle.
“We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” Musk wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Wednesday night.
What happened
While the ignition device hasn’t been determined, what caught fire and caused the explosion is.
Police said the truck was rented in Colorado, arrived in Las Vegas at around 7:30 a.m. and drove to the hotel, where it stopped in the valet area. The vehicle exploded with the driver inside.
“Detectives found gasoline canisters and large firework mortars in the bed of the truck,” a police statement said. Sheriff Kevin McMahill said authorities were unsure what caused the explosion as they have not been able to examine the vehicle yet. It burnt out shell remains in front of the hotel, which has been evacuated.
The seven people who were injured were either treated on scene or two were transported to the hospital and later released, officials noted.
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Tough truck
During a press conference earlier, McMahill said that due to the truck’s construction, the damage from the explosion was limited, noting that the glass front doors to the hotel were not damaged.
“The fact that this was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that occurred inside of the valet,” he said, “because it had most of the blast go up through the truck and out.”
He added that “there is no further threat to the community as we sit here today.” Unsurprisingly, Musk said he was not surprised by the truck’s role in containing the impact of the explosion.
“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack,” Musk wrote in an X post. “Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.”
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