On the sidelines of the terrible attack which left 15 dead in New Orleans, a Tesla cybertruck exploded in front of Trump Tower in Las Vegas. Links between the two facts are currently being studied by the FBI, but not confirmed.
“One person died inside the Cybertruck,” said Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas police, reports AFP. Seven other people suffered “minor injuries”, he added.
In a speech, President Joe Biden said authorities were trying to determine whether there was a link between this explosion and the car attack that left 15 dead in New Orleans. For the moment, McMahill said there was “no indication” of this.
“There is no visible IS flag as was the case in New Orleans,” the police officer said. There, the FBI identified the perpetrator as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran.
Fireworks
Quickly after the events, Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, said he received confirmation “that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb transported in the trunk of the rented Cybertruck and was not not linked to the vehicle itself. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” the contractor added.
Which could therefore indicate that the act was intentional. Authorities now say they know who rented the car, but without revealing their identity. They are trying to find out if the identity matches the person found dead in the vehicle. According to local media 9NEWSthe cybertruck was allegedly rented in the city of Colorado Springs by a person with “military experience”.
Musk / Trump
“We believe this is an isolated event,” said FBI agent Jeremy Schwartz. We do not believe that many people supported or assisted this action.”
The Las Vegas sheriff, however, sees a link between the Tesla and the Trump Tower: “It’s a Tesla cybertruck, and we know that Elon Musk works with President-elect Trump, and it’s a Trump building. So there are clearly things that we need to be concerned about and that’s something that we will continue to look at.”
