In Las Vegas, a Tesla Cybertruck explodes in front of the Trump hotel, killing its occupant

Questions persist after the explosion, Wednesday January 1, of a large Tesla vehicle – the Cybertruck – in front of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas, in the American state of Nevada, in the west of the country.

“There is a deceased person inside the Cybertruck”Las Vegas Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a press conference. The police officer also specified that seven people were suffering from “minor injuries” following what he described as « grosse explosion ». “We had to evacuate the hotel”said Mr. McMahill.

In images posted on social networks, a gray Cybertruck electric vehicle, parked in front of the entrance to the hotel where the name Trump is displayed large, explodes in a huge cloud of smoke.

“We now have confirmation that the explosion was caused by large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the back of the rented Cybertruck and was not linked to the vehicle itself”said Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla. “We have never seen anything like this”had initially declared Mr. Musk, also charged by Donald Trump with an extra-governmental mission of deregulation and reduction of public spending in his future government.

The hypothesis of an “isolated event”

This explosion comes a few hours after a former American soldier, identified by the FBI as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, is suspected of having driven into the crowd in the French Quarter of New Orleans, killing at least fifteen people and thirty injured. Investigators said they found an Islamic State group flag in the vehicle. The FBI also quickly declared that it was treating the attack in New Orleans as a “act of terrorism”.

During a speech Wednesday evening, Joe Biden confirmed that authorities were investigating whether there was “some possible connection” between this explosion and the deadly attack in New Orleans, the American president adding that nothing indicated ” so far “.

“We believe this is an isolated event”declared, for his part, Jeremy Schwartz, FBI agent.

“As you can imagine, with an explosion here on our iconic Las Vegas Boulevard, we are taking every precaution to keep our community safe.”said Kevin McMahill, the sheriff of this Nevada city.