Tesla Cybertruck Explosion in Las Vegas Leaves One Dead

U.S. police announced that an explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck in front of a hotel owned by Donald Trump, the President-elect of the United States, in Las Vegas left at least one dead. President Joe Biden stated on Wednesday evening, January 1, that police forces are investigating a possible connection between the explosion in Las Vegas and an attack a few hours earlier in New Orleans, where a truck drove into a large crowd, killing at least 15 people. However, Biden emphasized that no connection has been found between the two incidents. The FBI and New Orleans police believe this incident to be separate. Kevin McMahill, the Las Vegas sheriff, told reporters that the electric vehicle was parked near the glass entrance of the Trump International Hotel when a "large explosion" occurred. Video footage shows the Tesla Cybertruck parked in front of the hotel entrance suddenly igniting, followed by several smaller explosions. According to the Las Vegas sheriff, the person inside the Cybertruck was killed, and seven others sustained minor injuries. The hotel was also evacuated. He stated that there were gasoline and picnic gas canisters, as well as fireworks materials, behind the Cybertruck. McMahill added that the fact that this incident occurred in a Cybertruck limited the damage and absorbed most of the explosion's wave, so even the glass entrance of the hotel, which was a few steps away, did not shatter. Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, posted on social media platform X that the explosion was caused by excessive fireworks or a bomb placed in the rented Cybertruck. He emphasized that this incident was not due to the Cybertruck itself. Musk had stated hours earlier that all senior members of the Tesla team were investigating this event, adding that "we have never seen anything like this before." U.S. police announced that they are still working to discover the cause of the explosion. American media, including NBC and CBS, reported that U.S. officials are investigating this incident as a potential terrorist attack. According to CNN, the Tesla vehicle was rented from the same online site "Turo" that Shamsuddin Jabbar, the perpetrator of the truck attack in New Orleans, had used. A spokesperson for the Turo car rental site told CNN that they did not think the renters had a criminal history and were not identified as a security threat. The Las Vegas police chief did not rule out that the perpetrators of the two events had "accidentally" rented the vehicles from the mentioned site but are examining the possibility of a connection between the two incidents and other attacks occurring worldwide. The police have not yet released the name of the Las Vegas explosion perpetrator, but according to CNN, legal officials familiar with the investigations stated that this individual, like the New Orleans attacker, had a military service history in the U.S. Hours before this incident, New Orleans in southern Louisiana was the scene of a truck attack on a large crowd, leaving at least 15 dead and 30 injured. Joe Biden announced based on FBI investigations that the driver of this truck was inspired by ISIS.