A Tesla Cyber Truck exploded and burst into flames Wednesday morning just outside the entrance of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, killing a person inside the vehicle and injuring several others standing nearby, local officials said.
“I don’t know,” McMahill said when asked at a news conference whether the two incidents are connected. “But we are investigating whether there is any connectivity.” Turo, in a statement, said the company is actively aiding investigators: “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 company said.
McMahill said officials know the Tesla was rented in Colorado but declined to divulge the name of the person who died in the inferno.
“We do know who rented this truck,” he said, adding they have found no link to ISIS or any other terrorist organization. “We believe this is an isolated incident,” added Jeremy Schwartz, the FBI’s acting special agent in charge of the investigation. McMahill said officials were able to track the route the Tesla took to Las Vegas with the help of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who provided video of the Cybertruck at Tesla charging stations and by having the truck unlocked after it auto-locked in the explosion.
The Tesla arrived at 7:30 a.m. in Las Vegas and exploded an hour later, about 15 seconds after it got to the hotel, the sheriff said. McMahill showed video of the explosion at an evening news conference. “So the individual who was in the truck is obviously deceased,” he lastly said.