One person killed in explosion involving Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump hotel

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At least one person was killed and seven wounded when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside a hotel belonging to the United States president-elect Donald Trump in Las Vegas, police said.

The electric vehicle pulled up to the Trump International Hotel’s glass entrance before a “large explosion”, Las Vegas sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters.

Video footage shows the stainless steel truck parked at the hotel entrance before bursting into flames, followed by smaller explosions that appeared similar to fireworks.

There was “one deceased individual inside the Cybertruck” while seven people received “minor” injuries, McMahill said.

The sheriff told a press conference that police officers “knew we had a much larger event than just a vehicle fire” and played video footage that showed “gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars” in the truck’s boot.

“Obviously a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel — there’s lots of questions that we have to answer,” he added.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating whether the blast was an act of terrorism.

However, FBI special agent in charge Jeremy Schwartz has urged people against jumping to conclusions.

“I know everybody’s interested in that word, and trying to see if we can say, ‘Hey, this is a terrorist attack.’ That is our goal, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

He added that the FBI had identified the person driving the vehicle, which had been rented in Colorado, but was not yet ready to publicly identify the driver.

Investigators in hazmat suits photograph a heavily charred Tesla Cybertruck.

At least one person was killed and seven wounded when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside a hotel belonging to US President-elect Donald Trump in Las Vegas, police have said. Source: Getty / Wade Vanderverot / AFP

Tesla chief Elon Musk — — said the blast was unrelated to the Cybertruck itself.

“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,” Musk said in a post on X. “All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”

Telemetry involves the automatic collection of data from remote sources, transmitting it back to a central source so it can later be analyzed.

Earlier, Musk said the “whole Tesla senior team” was investigating the blast, adding: “We’ve never seen anything like this.”

President Joe Biden was briefed on the explosion and directed his team to offer any federal assistance needed, the White House said.

He was earlier briefed on on Wednesday.

McMahill referenced that attack but did not explicitly link the two incidents, saying that authorities in Las Vegas were “taking all of the precautions that we need to keep our community safe”.

He added that both the Cybertruck and the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack had been rented through car-sharing service Turo.