A Tesla Cybertruck vehicle, Elon Musk’s brand pickup, exploded on Wednesday January 1 in front of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas, causing the death of one person, as authorities sought to find out if there was a link with the attack on New Orleans, according to Joe Biden. “There is a deceased person inside the Cybertruck,” Las Vegas Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a press conference, adding that seven other people suffered “minor injuries.”
During a short speech on Wednesday evening, Joe Biden confirmed that authorities were investigating whether there was “any possible connection” between this explosion and the deadly attack in New Orleans, with the US president adding that nothing did not indicate “until now”. “We believe this is an isolated event,” said FBI agent Jeremy Schwartz.
In images posted on social networks, a gray Cybertruck electric vehicle, parked in front of the entrance to the hotel where the name “Trump” is displayed in large format, explodes in a huge cloud of smoke.
Before Joe Biden’s statement, Elon Musk had claimed on vehicle itself”, without supporting his statement. “We have never seen anything like this,” initially declared the boss of Tesla, an ally of Donald Trump, also responsible for an extra-governmental mission of deregulation and reduction of public spending in the future government of the president-elect.
‘No IS flag visible’
This explosion comes a few hours after a former American soldier, identified by the FBI as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, is suspected of having driven into the crowd at the wheel of his vehicle in New Orleans. This attack, treated as an “act of terrorism” according to the federal police, left at least 15 dead and around thirty injured. Investigators said they found an Islamic State group flag in the vehicle.
Questioned by the press, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said there was “no indication” to establish a link between the explosion in front of the Trump hotel and the Islamic State (IS) group. . “There is no visible IS flag as was the case in New Orleans,” the police officer said.
The vehicles involved in both incidents were rented through the ride-sharing app Turo. Kevin McMahill said it was a “coincidence […] which we must continue to examine.” A spokesperson for the application, used by millions of people in the United States, said it was collaborating with law enforcement. “We do not believe that the two customers had a criminal past which would have identified them as a threat to security,” the group’s spokesperson told AFP.
“As you can imagine, with an explosion here on our iconic Las Vegas Boulevard, we are taking every precaution to keep our community safe,” Kevin McMahill said earlier.
The rear of the vehicle contained cans of gasoline and “large fireworks mortars”, he said, estimating that the structure of the Cybertruck had “helped limit the damage”. “Most of the explosion went through the (vehicle) from the top and came out. If you watch that video, you’ll see that the glass doors of the Trump Hotel weren’t even shattered by the explosion,” he said.