Explosives Found Inside Cybertruck That Detonated at Trump Hotel

Firework mortars and camp fuel canisters were found stuffed into the back of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel early Wednesday, killing a suspect inside the vehicle and sparking an intense investigation into possible terrorism, the AP reports. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark County Fire Department officials said that a person died inside the futuristic-looking pickup truck and seven people nearby suffered minor injuries. By late Wednesday afternoon, authorities were still working to get the body out of the vehicle and start processing the evidence inside. President Biden was briefed on the explosion.

"Our number one goal is to ensure that we have the proper identification of the subject involved in this incident," said Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge for the FBI's Las Vegas office, "Following that, our second objective is to determine whether this was an act of terrorism or not." Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said authorities know who rented the truck with the Turo app in Colorado, but are not releasing the name until investigators determine if it is the same person who died. Video presented at an afternoon news conference showed a tumble of charred fireworks mortars, canisters, and other explosive devices crowded into the back of the pickup. Neither Trump nor Tesla CEO Elon Musk were in Las Vegas early Wednesday.

The New Orleans tragedy hours before, in which a truck plowed into a crowd and killed 15 people, is also being probed as a terrorist attack, and the Hill reports the driver in that attack also rented the vehicle from Turo. Police believe the New Orleans driver did not act alone. "We are absolutely investigating any connectivity to what happened in New Orleans as well as other attacks that have been occurring around the world," McMahill said of the Las Vegas blast. "We aren't ruling anything out." In a statement, Turo said it was working with authorities. "We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat," the statement said. (More Las Vegas stories.)