(Credit: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
UPDATE 1/2: Officials have identified the Cybertruck driver as 37-year-old Matthew Alan Livelsberger of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The driver had two guns in the car with him; both were purchased legally on Dec. 30. It appears he used one of those guns to shoot himself in the head prior to the Cybertruck explosion, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said today. An ATF spokesperson suggested the bomb itself was rather rudimentary, but they're still piecing things together.
Tesla employees are en route to Las Vegas to help determine if any video footage from the Cybertruck can be recovered. McMahill also asked any EV drivers who may have been at a Tesla charging station at the same time as Livelsberger to see if their cars captured any footage of him and his vehicle. (Tips can be submitted to the FBI via tips.fbi.gov/home or by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI.) Livelsberger rented the car in Denver from Turo on Dec. 28 and arrived in Las Vegas around 7:30 a.m. local time yesterday.
The FBI says it has no indication of any ties to terrorist organizations at this time. McMahill acknowledged some similarities between Livelsberger and the driver who killed 15 people in New Orleans on New Year's Eve. They're both in the US Army, were stationed at Fort Bragg, and served in Afghanistan. But the feds don't have evidence they served together or knew each other.
Original Story 1/1:
A Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside Trump Tower in Las Vegas this morning, killing the driver and injuring seven people who were in the vicinity.
Drone footage from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department taken in the aftermath of the explosion shows charred gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters, and large firework mortars in the rear of the Tesla EV.
"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," Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted today.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a Wednesday evening press briefing that the authorities are not yet confirming the identity of the driver because he "cannot do that with 100% certainty of who the individual is."
The Cybertruck was rented in Colorado and arrived in Las Vegas this morning. Las Vegas PD traced it through the Tesla charging network with the help of Musk, McMahill said.
Footage of the explosion from hotel surveillance shows the rear of the Cybertruck exploding in a large fireball. The sheriff said the EV's construction helped limit the damage, noting that the side panels were intact following the explosion, as were the glass doors on the front of Trump Tower.
"The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards," Musk said on X.
The explosion happened hours after a man killed at least 15 people in New Orleans by driving his truck into a crowd of New Year's Eve revelers on Bourbon Street. McMahill and Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge of the FBI's Las Vegas office, said they were taking that into consideration but were not prepared to say the Cybertruck explosion is a terrorist attack.
"We believe this is an isolated incident," Agent Schwartz said. "We do not believe that there is...any other danger to the community right now."
In New Orleans, the driver reportedly had an ISIS flag in the truck, but there were no "overt" symbols of terrorism on the Cybertruck, McMahill said. "We are investigating every aspect of this, and if that comes to light, we'll certainly update you."
On X, Musk was less hesitant: "Appears likely to be an act of terrorism," he wrote.
McMahill noted the relationship between Musk and Donald Trump and the fact that a Tesla truck exploded outside one of the president-elect's properties. "There's obviously things to be concerned about there and stuff we continue to look at," he said.