If the vehicle had not been the same, he assures, the attack would have been much more dramatic. After the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck in front of the Trump hotel in Los Angeles on Wednesday, which caused the death of the driver, Elon Musk insisted that the event had “no connection with the vehicle itself”, and even claimed that his Tesla brand car had “contained” the explosion.
The explosion took place around 8:40 a.m. local time (5:40 p.m. in Paris), according to Las Vegas police, cited by American media. In a video that has circulated widely online, we see a Cybertruck parked in front of the entrance to the hotel where the name “Trump” is displayed in large format, exploding in a huge cloud of smoke. According to the local police sheriff, the occupant of the car was killed, while seven people were slightly injured.
Elon Musk quickly denied any malfunction of the futuristic pick-up, assuring on his social network is not linked to the vehicle itself.
“The Cybertruck directed the blast upwards”
“We have never seen anything like this,” initially declared the boss of Tesla, an ally of Donald Trump, also responsible for an extra-governmental mission of deregulation and reduction of public spending in the future government of the president-elect.
VideoExplosion of a Cybertruck in front of a Trump hotel: a link with the attack in New Orleans?
In another message on his account, he toughened his tone even further, assuring that “the evil morons chose the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack”. For good reason, this vehicle with a stainless steel body and very rigid in the event of an accident, which has caused it to be banned for the moment in France and more widely in Europe, has, according to him, made it possible to reduce the seriousness of the incident. “The Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Even the glass doors of the hall were not broken,” he said.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill himself estimated that the structure of the Cybertruck had “helped limit the damage”, specifying that the rear of the vehicle contained cans of gasoline and “large mortars of fireworks” . “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 broken by the explosion,” he also stressed.
An official familiar with the investigation into the attack also confirmed to ABC News that it was not an explosion caused by a lithium battery, as some Internet users had suggested, following several cases of fires in Tesla vehicles, caused by compartments that had spontaneously caught fire.
Several media criticized by the billionaire
Elon Musk also attacked several American media, accusing them of having suggested, according to him, in the wording of the title of their articles on the subject, that the vehicle itself could be involved in the explosion. “AP stands for Associated Propaganda,” he for example quipped in a message, relaying a publication from the Associated Press news agency which spoke of a death after a “Tesla vehicle caught fire and exploded in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
Responding to an Internet user who suggested that he take legal action against the sites in question, the billionaire also said that it was “perhaps time to do it”. Elon Musk regularly attacks media that he describes as “mainstream”, while many major titles have left Twitter since its acquisition by the entrepreneur, who renamed it X.
Authorities are currently investigating the “possible connection” between the explosion in front of the Trump hotel and the deadly attack a few hours earlier by a vehicle which drove into the crowd in New Orleans, killing at least 15 people according to the latest assessment, reported President Joe Biden. However, he added that there was no indication of this “until now”. In both cases, the cars had been rented on a ride-sharing app. The investigation is also looking into a possible terrorist trail in the Las Vegas incident, but without confirmation at this stage.
