1 dead, 7 injured after Tesla Cybertruck explodes outside Trump's Las Vegas hotel

LAS VEGAS (AP) — One person died and seven others were injured Wednesday 
when a Tesla Cybertruck that appeared to be carrying fireworks caught fire 
and exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel, 
authorities said.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark County Fire Department officials 
told a news conference that a person died inside the futuristic-looking 
pickup truck and they were working to get the body out. Seven people 
nearby had minor injuries and several were taken to a hospital.

The fire in the valet area of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas was 
reported at 8:40 a.m., a county spokesperson said in a statement.

According to a law enforcement official, the truck was rented via the Turo 
app and appeared to have a load of fireworks. The official spoke on 
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

A Turo spokesperson did not immediately respond to an emailed request for 
comment.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday afternoon on X that "we have now 
confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a 
bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the 
vehicle itself. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the 
explosion."

"The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now," Musk 
said in an earlier post on the platform after attending a New Year's Eve 
party at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. "We've never seen anything like this."

Law enforcement officials have not ruled out terrorism as a possible 
motive, a person familiar with the matter said. The person spoke on 
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly 
discuss details of the investigation.

"I know you have a lot of questions," Jeremy Schwartz, acting special 
agent in charge for the FBI's Las Vegas office, told reporters. "We don't 
have a lot of answers."

President Joe Biden was briefed on the explosion. The truck explosion came 
hours after a driver rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans' famed 
French Quarter early on New Year's Day, killing at least 15 people before 
being shot to death by police. That crash was being investigated as a 
terrorist attack and police believe the driver was not acting alone.

In Las Vegas, witness Ana Bruce, visiting from Brazil, said she heard 
three explosions.

"The first one where we saw the fire, the second one, I guess, was the 
battery or something like that, and the third was the big one that smoked 
the entire area and was the moment when everyone was told to evacuate and 
stay away," Bruce said.

Her travel companion, Alcides Antunes, showed video he took of flames 
lapping the sides of the silver-colored vehicle.

The 64-story hotel is just off the Las Vegas Strip and across the street 
from the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall.

Eric Trump, a son of the president-elect and executive vice president of 
the Trump Organization, posted about the fire on the social media platform 
X. He praised the fire department and local law enforcement "for their 
swift response and professionalism."

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/01/nx-s1-5245215/tesla-truck-explosion-trump-
las-vegas-hotel

-- 
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look 
forward to America being great again.

The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and 
eradicated.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that 
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem.  It has none.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden 
fiasco, President Trump.  

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood 
queer liberal democrat donors.