Elon Musk links Tesla Cybertruck, New Orleans incidents to terrorism

Wednesday morning, a Tesla Cybertruck carrying explosives burst outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, killing one person and injured seven more. Elon Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said the blast is a cause for fear of terrorism, as it took place in the valet lot of the hotel

“The Cybertruck incident is connected to the F-150 truck earlier. They may be acts of terrorism,” Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter). He also said both the vehicles were booked using the Turo app, suggesting a connection.

Authorities from the Clark County Fire Department and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department noted the explosion at roughly 8:40 a.m. local time. Before the massive blast, a futuristic electric pickup known as the Cybertruck spontaneously caught fire. The driver inside the truck was killed, while seven minor injured people were rushed to the hospital.

Just a few years ago, earlier this week, a driver ran a Ford F-150 into a crowd in the French Quarter of New Orleans on New Year's Day, which left at least 10 people dead before the driver was shot. This further stimulated Musk's belief that they were attacks in coordination.

Both incidents were briefed to President Joe Biden. Update: The FBI is investigating but has not tied the two events together. We don’t know many of those answers at this point in time,” said Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s Las Vegas office.

Witnesses in Las Vegas recounted scenes of chaos. A tourist from Brazil, Ana Bruce, said she heard three explosions, the first of which caused the fire, the second one seemed to be the truck’s battery and the third one was the “biggest” and made the whole area evacuate.

The Cybertruck explosion is something Tesla's senior team is currently working on. “We’ve never seen anything like this,” Musk wrote. Both incidents have also raised serious questions about safety and security. Taking things to another level, two very public events involving very capable vehicles were recently held — Tesla Cybertruck and Ford F-150 — fueling the growing conversation about their potential misuse.

We will be following up with more details as the investigations continue.