A chaos of smoke and flames, in the middle of the street. A Tesla Cybertruck vehicle, Elon Musk’s brand pickup, exploded on Wednesday in front of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas, causing the death of one person, its driver. The authorities are trying to find out if a link exists with the attack in New Orleans which occurred a few hours earlier, which left 15 dead according to the latest report.
What happened?
The explosion took place around 8:40 a.m. local time (5:40 p.m. in Paris), police said, cited by NBC News. 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. Lines of light, similar to those of fireworks, then shoot out in all directions. We can see a man with a suitcase who was standing right next to the vehicle, and who managed to escape at the last minute when the explosion occurred.
VideoTesla Cybertruck explodes in front of Trump Tower in Las Vegas: 1 dead, 7 injured
In another video which also circulated widely online, shot from inside the hotel by an Internet user who claimed that he was just in front of the entrance during the explosion, we see the vehicle ravaged by a heavy fire. Additional small explosions seem to follow one another for a few seconds, while a siren sounds.
“There is a deceased person inside the Cybertruck,” Las Vegas Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference, adding that seven other people suffered “minor injuries.” The vehicle arrived at 7:30 a.m. in Las Vegas and exploded an hour later, 15 to 20 seconds after arriving at the hotel, he said, quoted by American media.
The rear of the vehicle contained cans of gasoline and “large mortars of fireworks”, he indicated, estimating that the structure of the Cybertruck, this large vehicle with a futuristic appearance, had “made it possible to limit the damage. “Most of the explosion passed through the (vehicle) from the top and came out. If you watch this video, you will see that the glass doors of the Trump Hotel were not even shattered by the explosion,” he says. He estimated that there was now “no additional threat to the population”, quoted by ABC News.
An investigation into suspicion of a terrorist act
The explosion is being investigated as a suspected terrorist attack, three law enforcement officials told NBC News. Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent of the FBI in charge of Las Vegas, declared that the agency was investigating whether the explosion “was an act of terrorism or not”, reports the New York Times.
Donald Trump’s son, Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, indicated on ‘hotel. Customers of the establishment were evacuated. In New York, additional police officers were deployed outside Trump Tower as a precaution and the security perimeter was expanded, an NYPD spokesperson said, according to NBC News.
A possible link with the attack on New Orleans?
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 at the wheel of his vehicle in New Orleans. This attack, treated as an “act of terrorism” according to the federal police, left at least 15 dead and around thirty injured.
During a speech on Wednesday evening, Joe Biden confirmed that authorities were investigating whether there was “any possible connection” between the two events, with the US president adding that there was no indication “so far” . “We believe this is an isolated event,” said FBI agent Jeremy Schwartz.
The Las Vegas sheriff said there was “no indication” to establish a link between the explosion in front of the Trump hotel and the Islamic State group. “There is no visible ISIS flag like there was in New Orleans,” said Kevin McMahill. Investigators indicated that they found a flag of the terrorist group in the vehicle which drove into the crowd.
The vehicles involved in both attacks, however, had been rented through the carpooling application Turo. A spokesperson for the app, used by millions of people in the United States, said it was working with law enforcement. “We do not believe that the two clients had a criminal past that would have identified them as a security threat,” the group’s spokesperson told AFP.
Kevin McMahill said the Cybertruck was rented in Colorado, and authorities identified its renter, but found no connection to ISIS or any other terrorist organization. However, he said they would not release that name until investigators determine whether it was the same person as the one who died, according to AP News.
How did Tesla react?
Before Joe Biden’s statement, Tesla boss Elon Musk had claimed on is not linked to the vehicle itself”, without supporting his point.
“We have never seen anything like this,” initially declared this ally of Donald Trump, also responsible for an extra-governmental mission of deregulation and reduction of public spending in the future government of the elected president. The latter, who will take office on January 20, has not reacted yet.
