At least seven people were injured, the authorities said. The authorities said they believed it to be “an isolated incident” but have not ruled out a connection to the attack in New Orleans.
One person was killed and at least seven people were injured after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside of 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 – yesterday, January 1 – morning attack in New Orleans that killed at least 15 people.
“There is no further threat to the community,” Sheriff McMahill said. As of Wednesday afternoon, there was no indication the explosion was connected to ISIS, which President Biden said inspired the New Orleans attack, but the investigation remains ongoing, he 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.”
“I know everybody’s interested in that word and trying to see if we can say, ‘Hey this is a terrorist attack,” Mr. Schwartz said. “That is our goal, and that’s what we’re trying to do”
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a report of an explosion at about 8:40 a.m. local time at the Trump Hotel. (NYT)
