Authorities say they are investigating the incident, which left seven people with minor injuries.
One person is dead and seven are injured after a Tesla Cybertruck he was on fire and it exploded outside a Las Vegas hotel owned by the United States President-elect Donald Trump.
The fire started on Wednesday around 8:40 am local time (14:40 GMT) in the area of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Clark County officials.
“We were told that a 2024 Cybertruck drove up in front of the hotel. And, I can tell you, it went right up to the glass doors of the hotel,” Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at the event. press conference. “We saw smoke starting to come out of the car, and then there was a huge explosion from the car.”
Details are still undecided, and the cause of the explosion has yet to be confirmed by authorities.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” Jeremy Schwartz, special agent in charge of the Las Vegas office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), told reporters. “We don't have many answers.”
Authorities said the vehicle appeared to be carrying fire extinguishers, and a person was found dead inside the vehicle. Several people near the blast were treated for minor injuries.
Another witness, Ana Bruce, told the Associated Press that she heard three explosions from the fire.
“The first one (happened) was when we saw the fire,” Bruce said. “The second, I think, was a battery or something like that, and the third was a big one that smoked the whole area and that's when everyone was told to leave and stay away.”
The incident happened after a few hours of vandalism in the Louisiana city of New Orleans that killed at least 10 people, which authorities are investigating as a possible terrorist attack.
The suspect in the case is believed to have been carrying explosive devices, or IEDs, in his car at the time the car was detonated.
Sheriff McMahill acknowledged that his officers are “well aware of what happened in New Orleans” and that the incident could inform their investigation. But he stopped connecting the two.
“As you can imagine, with the explosion that happened on Las Vegas Boulevard, we're doing everything we need to do to protect our community. We're looking for a second weapon,” McMahill said at a press conference, adding that there appears to be no further threat to the community.
The Cybertruck explosion comes as Trump prepares to take office for a second term on January 20.
Part of his incoming administration includes close advisers, such as the tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Muskwhich Trump used to lead an unincorporated, non-governmental organization called Department of Public Works.
Trump has launched the new agency as an advisory group to help improve the federal government.
In a social media post, Musk said Tesla, the electric car company he founded, is looking into Wednesday's incident.
“The entire Tesla executive team is investigating this matter right now,” Musk said he wroteadding: “We have never seen anything like this before.”