The FBI searches for any connection between the incident in New Orleans and the Tesla explosion

According to officials, the FBI is looking into any potential links between the New Orleans truck attack that claimed 15 lives on New Year’s Day and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.

Officials said the Cybertruck, which caught fire immediately after a driver deliberately crashed a pickup truck into crowds celebrating the new year in New Orleans’ French Quarter, was loaded with gasoline canisters and big firework mortars.

According to a statement from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the truck’s lone occupant was discovered dead inside, and seven other persons were slightly hurt.

FBI special agent in charge Jeremy Schwartz told reporters on Wednesday that although the FBI had identified the driver of the car, they were not yet prepared to make the information public.

A request for additional information on Thursday was not answered by the FBI.

The event happened hours after a man killed 15 people in New Orleans on New Year’s Day when he crashed a truck into throngs of revelers.

Authorities have not found a connection between the incidents.

The car exploded and flames poured out of it as it sat outside the hotel at approximately 8:40 a.m. local time (1640 GMT) on Wednesday, according to footage captured by witnesses both inside and outside the Las Vegas hotel.

A request for comment on the Cybertruck incident was not answered by a Trump official on Thursday. On Wednesday, Eric Trump commended Las Vegas law enforcement and fire personnel for their prompt response to the explosion.

“MANY QUESTIONS”

President-elect Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20, owns the Trump Organization, which includes the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. A new tab is opened by Tesla (TSLA.O). Elon Musk, the CEO, is an adviser to the incoming president and was a major supporter of Trump during his 2024 campaign.

During a press conference, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill stated, “There are a lot of questions that we have to answer, including the Trump hotel and an obvious Cybertruck.”

The truck was hired in Colorado, according to the police, and it arrived in Las Vegas at around 7:30 a.m. It then proceeded across the city’s renowned Strip, which is lined with hotels, casinos, and entertainment venues, until it came to a stop in the valet area of the hotel.

According to a police statement, “Detectives found gasoline canisters and large firework mortars in the bed of the truck.”

The FBI special agent in charge, Schwartz, stated that it was still unclear if the explosion was a terrorist act.

Musk claimed that the explosion had nothing to do with the Cybertruck from the 2024 model year.

“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 wrote in a post to X. “All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”

Telemetry is the process of automatically gathering data from distant sources and sending it back to a central location for analysis at a later time.

Turo is a car-sharing firm that rented both the Cybertruck and the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack, McMahill claimed.

According to a Turo representative, the business did not think that either of the rentals of the cars used in the attacks in Las Vegas and New Orleans had any criminal histories that would have made them a security risk.

Following the event, the Trump Hotel was evacuated, and the majority of the guests were relocated to another hotel.