One person was killed and at least seven were injured after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning, the authorities said, and officials were investigating any possible links to an earlier attack on a crowd in New Orleans.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said during a news conference that the authorities “believe this to be an isolated incident,” but have not yet ruled out a connection to the Wednesday morning attack in New Orleans that killed at least 15 people.
The Las Vegas Police Department received a report of an explosion at the Trump Hotel at about 8:40 a.m. local time.
Police were told that a 2024 Cybertruck “pulled up to the last entrance doors of the hotel,” Sheriff McMahill said earlier, at a news conference.
The driver was the only person in the truck, Mr. McMahill said and had been killed inside the vehicle. At least seven others were reported to have sustained minor injuries.
The person’s body remained in the truck on Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff McMahill said, and the authorities were working on identification.
The authorities said that the truck had been rented in Colorado using Turo, the same car rental app used in the New Orleans attack.
Sheriff McMahill said the authorities have identified the person who rented the truck but have not released their name.
The truck had arrived in Las Vegas at around 7:30 a.m. local time, Sheriff McMahill said and had gone up and down Las Vegas Boulevard before immediately pulling into the Trump Hotel.
Sheriff McMahill said the authorities had found gas canisters, camp fuel canisters, and large firework mortars in the back of the truck. It was unclear how they had been ignited, Sheriff McMahill said.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Jeremy Schwartz, the acting F.B.I. special agent in charge in Las Vegas, said the agency is investigating whether the explosion “was an act of terrorism or not.”
