Tragedy struck on the dawn of the new year when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday morning. The blast left one dead and injured seven according to an initial briefing from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. In a live video with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD), FBI agent Jeremy Schwartz noted the agency is working to determine “whether this was an act of terrorism or not.”
“At 8:40 a.m. Las Vegas time, we received a report of an explosion and a fire at the Trump Towers,” said Sheriff Kevin McMahill. “We were told that a 2024 Cybertruck pulled up to the front of the hotel… we saw that smoke start showing from the vehicle, and then a large explosion from the truck occurred.” McMahill confirmed the sole fatality was an individual inside the vehicle, whose identity remains unconfirmed at this time. The seven others harmed in the incident suffered minor injuries according to police.
“We’re very well aware of what happened in New Orleans,” noted McMahill, regarding the vehicle attack in Louisiana which claimed at least 15 lives earlier on Wednesday morning. “With an explosion here, on our iconic Las Vegas Boulevard, we are taking all of the precautions that we need to take to keep our community safe.”
While police are actively hunting for secondary explosive devices out of an abundance of caution, it’s believed the threat has passed. “There does not appear to be any further threat to our community here now,” says McMahill. The FBI is also on site to investigate the circumstances of the matter. “Obviously, a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel, there’s lots of questions that we have to answer,” said McMahill.
Elon Musk Chimes In
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to comment on the matter in the hours following the blast. “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,” said Musk. “All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.
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. https://t.co/HRjb87YbaJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 1, 2025
Video of the explosion has been shared widely on social media, and appears to support this assumption. The footage can be seen here but viewer discretion is advised (We at The Autopian do not embed photos/videos of incidents involving fatalities, so follow that link at your own discretion). In the security footage, a rapid fiery explosion can be seen emanating from the rear of the Cybertruck, followed by a number of secondary explosions with colored flashes that appear to be fireworks. It seems unlike the more steady and progressive burn seen in a traditional electric vehicle fire.
Footage taken by the LVMPD after the fire shows the bed full of multiple cans of fuel and other explosive material. “Those are gasoline canisters, they are camp fuel canisters, and large firework mortars,” McMahill told the press. “It looks like the exterior of the truck is intact as it sits there… the fact that this was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that occurred.”
The fuel can you see in LVMPD’s video (screengrab above) is race fuel, which is typically used in things like drag racers. Here’s the can in question:
Viewer discretion of the following press conference is advised, as it features footage of the explosion and the deceased individual involved, whom authorities say remains in the vehicle. The video also shows what was found in the bed of the truck.
Turo Has Now Been Mentioned In Two Separate Possible Terrorist Incidents
ABC notes that “Authorities are investigating a Tesla Cybertruck explosion on Wednesday outside the Trump Las Vegas hotel in Nevada as a possible act of terror, law enforcement officials said.” Law enforcement have also advised that the vehicle was rented via the Turo app. As per ABC, this parallels the Ford F-150 Lightning used in the vehicular attack in New Orleans the same morning. “Multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News that the Cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas was rented on Turo—the same app sources said was used to rent the pickup truck used in the deadly attack in New Orleans,” stated the outlet. LMVPD has since reported that the truck was rented in Colorado, and authorities traced its route to Las Vegas by its use of Tesla’s charger network.
The Autopian reached out to Turo regarding the incidents in Las Vegas and New Orleans. A Turo spokesperson provided the following statement:
We are heartbroken by the violence perpetrated in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and our prayers are with the victims and families. We are actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents. We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat. We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management, thanks to our world-class trust and safety technologies and teams that include experienced former law enforcement professionals.
At this stage, many details around the incident remain unclear, including the identity of those involved. Authorities have asked people to avoid the area while investigations are ongoing.
“We remain shocked and saddened by yesterday’s horrific events, and our hearts are with the victims and their families. We are outraged by the misuse of our marketplace by the two individuals who perpetrated these acts.
Every Turo renter is screened through a proprietary multi-layer, data-science-based trust and safety process. We utilize over 50 internal and external data sources to build, maintain, and improve on our best-in-class Turo Risk Score.
These individuals in question had valid driver’s licenses, clean background checks, one was honorably discharged from the US military, and the other was an active-duty Army green beret. They could have boarded any plane, checked into a hotel, or rented a car or truck from a traditional vehicle rental chain. We do not believe these two individuals would have been flagged by anyone – including Big Rental or law enforcement.
Turo operates a safe and trusted marketplace. As of September 30, 2024, we have collected data from over 90 million booked days, 27 million trips, 8.6 billion miles driven, through 12 years of operating history, less than 0.10% of Turo trips end with a serious incident such as a vehicle theft.” – a Turo spokesperson
Image credits: via Twitter screenshot, LMVPD
Damn, this story keeps getting sadder. He was an active duty Green Beret with experience in dealing with IEDs in Afghanistan. So he knew how bombs work and probably meant for this to make his public suicide more visible and dramatic rather than kill other people. It was mental illness, not terrorism.
I’ll echo others here that suicide is never the answer. If you are feeling like that is an option, please PLEASE reach out for help. Call a friend or loved one. You may not feel like you have any, but you do. I guarantee that you do. There are also confidential suicide hotlines where you will get no judgement, only the help you need.
This guy looks like he really fucked himself in the face.