The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Wednesday a vehicle “explosion and fire” occurred outside the entrance of the Trump Hotel earlier that morning.
A 2024 all-electric Cybertruck, made by billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla automotive company, pulled up to the front entrance of the hotel before it began billowing smoke and emitting a “large explosion,” an LVMPD spokesperson for the department said.
One person died in the vehicle, per the LVMPD. Their gender and identity were not immediately known. Seven additional people were injured, according to officials.
LVMPD Sheriff Kevin McMahill said they were aware of the truck that killed 10 people that same day after driving into a crowd in New Orleans, an event the FBI deemed an act of terrorism. McMahill did not draw any distinct connections to the Cybertruck incident in Las Vegas and said there “does not appear to be any further threat to our community.” The FBI was also investigating.
“As you can imagine, with an explosion here on an iconic Las Vegas boulevard, we are taking all of the precautions that we need to take to keep our community safe,” McMahill told reporters during a news conference. “We’re looking for secondary devices. We’re taking it slow.”
He went on to suggest politics could have played a motive, given Musk’s close alliance to President-elect Donald Trump.
“Obviously, a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel, there’s lots of questions that we have to answer,” McMahill said.
The Trump International Hotel Las Vegas could not be reached for further comment or information.
A social media video showed a Cybertruck that was on fire in front of what appeared to be the hotel.
A user on X, the social media platform owned by Musk, posted a video saying that a Cybertruck “blew up in front of Trump hotel in Las Vegas. Those are our luggage by the door and that’s where we were when it happened.”
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Another user posted aerial pictures and videos of the hotel, saying it was “footage of smoke/fire and evacuation at @realDonaldTrump Trump International Hotel Las Vegas.”
“The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now,” Musk posted to Twitter. “Will post more information as soon as we learn anything. We’ve never seen anything like this.”
