Published Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025 | 11:46 a.m.
Updated Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025 | 9:29 p.m.
One person was dead and at least seven were injured after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded and caught fire Wednesday outside the Trump International Hotel near the Las Vegas Strip, according to Metro Police
The agency received a report of an explosion around 8:40 a.m. at the hotel. It was told that a 2024 Cybertruck “pulled up to the last entrance doors of the hotel,” Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference.
“We saw that smoke started showing from the vehicle, and then a large explosion from the truck occurred,” he added.
The person killed was inside the vehicle, he said, adding that at least seven others were reported to have sustained minor injuries.
Officials said they found gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large fireworks mortars in the burned vehicle. The car was rented in Colorado via the Turo app.
“The question is, ‘Did we find any devices that would be used to set off the explosives?’ And the answer is no. I don’t know how they were ignited,” McMahill said. “Something set them off, but I don’t know what it was yet. We haven’t been able to process the vehicle yet.”
Law enforcement officials have not ruled out terrorism as a possible motive.
They didn’t initially believe it was related to an attack earlier Wednesday in New Orleans, where a man who President Joe Biden said posted a video message saying he was inspired by the Islamic State drove a truck through a crowd of New Year’s Eve partygoers on Bourbon Street, killing at least 15.
“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,” said Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas office. “We believe this is an isolated incident. We do not believe that there’s a bunch of folks out there supporting this or helping this, and we don’t believe that there’s any other danger to the community right now.”
There was not any further threat to the public, McMahill said, adding that the investigation would continue: “Obviously, a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel, there’s lots of questions that we have to answer as we move forward.”
There was heavy police presence on the Strip the remainder of the day.
“We’re very well aware of what has happened in New Orleans with the event that occurred there,” McMahill said. “As you can imagine, with an explosion here on an iconic Las Vegas Boulevard (property), we are taking all of the precautions that we need to take to keep our community safe.”
In a later news conference, he added, “We don’t have any indication of that (connection to ISIS) here in Las Vegas, no overt ISIS flag, as we’ve seen in New Orleans. But again, we are investigating every aspect of this, and if that comes to life.”
Videos posted to social media showed the truck engulfed in flames just outside the hotel’s lobby entrance doors. Other social media posts showed what appeared to be a line of people being led out of the building.
Metro investigators spoke with Tesla owner Elon Musk, who “gave us quite a bit of additional information in regards to how the vehicle was locked after it exploded,” McMahill said.
Musk said Wednesday afternoon on X that “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.”
In an earlier post on the platform Musk said that his entire senior term was investigating the explosion, adding, “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
Neither Trump nor Musk were in Las Vegas early Wednesday. Both had attended Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at Trump’s estate in South Florida.
People who were staying at the hotel said they were evacuated because of the fire.
Todd Hansen told the New York Times that he was on the 27th floor of the hotel when he said he heard a series of loud popping sounds. He took the elevator down to a waiting area, where he saw smoke and sprinklers in the driveway outside the hotel entrance.
“The elevator area was full of people,” Hansen said. “They would not let you out of the elevator area and into the lobby.” He went back to his room to alert his wife and they were both evacuated when they returned downstairs, he added.
Shir Poli, of San Antonio, Texas, told the New York Times he noticed a gas-like smell on the floor and elevator. He managed to take his luggage with him as evacuations were underway.
Kerri Ford, of Wisconsin, said she had left her room for a cup of coffee when she was told to leave the building. She was set to be married Wednesday afternoon, and her wedding dress and marriage license were left in the room.
“We didn’t know there was anything going on,” Ford said. “We just happened to come down for coffee and they’re like, ‘You have to evacuate.’ ”
The hotel, on Fashion Show Drive, has nearly 1,300 suites and is 64 stories, according to the Trump Hotels website.
The Associated Press and New York Times Company contributed reporting to this story