LAS VEGAS (NewsNation) — Firework mortars and camp fuel canisters were found in the back of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Las Vegas Trump International Hotel Wednesday, killing one person, injuring seven others, and sparking an intense investigation into possible terrorism.
The act was intentional, police said, adding that video shows the vehicle parked next to the hotel’s front doors as it explodes into flames.
Police did not find any devices that would have been used to ignite the explosion in the truck and are unsure at this time how it ignited, authorities said.
Cybertruck arrived in Vegas one hour before blast
Clark County firefighters and Las Vegas Metropolitan police responded to the explosion and fire around 8:40 a.m. in the 2000 block of Fashion Show Drive, across from Fashion Show Mall and just west of the Las Vegas Strip.
Police tracked the truck through cameras at Tesla charging stations and found that it arrived in Las Vegas around 7:30 a.m. The truck then drove up and down Las Vegas Boulevard for about an hour before pulling into the Trump Hotel entrance. The truck sat in front of the hotel for about 15-20 seconds before it exploded, McMahill said.
The blast went upwards, so the hotel’s glass doors did not break.
Have any suspects been identified?
The truck explosion came hours after a driver rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police. That crash was being investigated as a terrorist attack and police believe the driver was not acting alone.
Both the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas and the pickup truck used in New Orleans were rented from Turo, authorities said.
Police have identified the person who rented the cybertruck but have not yet released the name. Social posts including a person’s name were incorrect, a source told NewsNation affiliate KLAS.
“We believe this is an isolated incident. We do not believe that there is a bunch of folks out there supporting this or helping this. We don’t believe there’s any other danger to the community right now. Over the next few hours and days, we will continue to do our best to research as much as we can and get to the bottom of this. and we won’t stop until we’re 100% certain as to what happened and why,” said FBI Acting Special Agent-In-Charge Jeremy Schwartz.
In a statement, Turo said it was working with authorities.
“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,” the statement said.
Musk: Explosion was caused by fireworks or bomb
Tesla founder Elon Musk, who is working with the FBI, 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.”
Musk suggested that the explosion might also be an act of terrorism, noting that the truck involved was rented through the same app used in the New Orleans attack. However, the FBI has not confirmed this theory.
What is Turo?
The cars in both the Las Vegas explosion and the attack in New Orleans were rented on the app Turo, authorities say.
Turo is a peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace, often described as the Airbnb for cars. It allows private car owners to rent out their vehicles by listing them on the platform, where they can set rental prices, availability, and specific guidelines.
Renters can browse local options, choose a vehicle that suits their needs, and complete the transaction securely through Turo’s system.
NewsNation affiliate KLAS and The Associated Press contributed to this report.