(Reuters) – A Tesla (NASDAQ 🙂) Cybertruck caught fire outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring several others, and media reports said it was being investigated as a possible terrorist act.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference that one person was found dead inside the 2024 Cybertruck and seven people suffered minor injuries from the explosion.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, said the electric car maker was investigating the fire.
“Tesla’s entire senior team is investigating this matter right now,” he said in a post on X, adding, “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
McMahill said the Cybertruck stopped at the Trump building at 8:40 a.m. local time. He said police were aware of the New Orleans attack that occurred in the early hours of Wednesday. The FBI said a possible explosive device was found in the vehicle used in that attack.
“As you can imagine, with an explosion here on the iconic Las Vegas Boulevard, we are taking every precaution necessary to keep our community safe. We are looking for secondary devices,” McMahill said, adding that no additional threat to the community emerged. .
Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and son of President-elect Donald Trump, posted about the incident on X. “Earlier today, an electric vehicle fire was reported at the Trump Las Vegas driveway,” he wrote.
In 2024, the US National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation into an accident and fire involving a Tesla electric truck on a California highway.
Auto experts say electric vehicle fires burn differently than those in cars with internal combustion engines, often lasting longer and being harder to extinguish.