On Wednesday (January 1), a Tesla Cybertruck caught fire and exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, killing one person and injuring at least seven others. Video taken by witnesses inside and outside the hotel showed the car exploding outside the hotel and flames pouring out of the car.
The incident occurred just hours after a man drove a truck into a crowd of New Year’s Day revelers in New Orleans, killing at least 10 people.
“Obviously a Cybertruck, the Trump Hotel – we have to answer a lot of questions,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sergeant Kevin McMahill said at a news conference.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk and advisers to President-elect Trump claimed the explosion had nothing to do with the Cybertruck itself.
“We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried inside the rental Cybertruck and had nothing to do with the vehicle itself,” Musk posted on Twitter (X). “All vehicle telemetry results were positive at the time of the explosion.”
McMahill said one person was found dead inside the 2024 Cybertruck, and seven others suffered minor injuries from the explosion. News reports said the fire was being investigated as a possible act of terrorism. The FBI is also investigating.
“We have a lot of questions,” said Special Agent in Charge Jeremy Schwartz. “We are deploying resources. We will continue to do so until we wrap this up and figure out what exactly happened and why.