A Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Cybertruck exploded and burst into flames Wednesday morning just outside the entrance of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, killing a person inside the vehicle and injuring several others standing nearby.
The suspicious blast is being investigated as a possible terrorist attack, three senior law enforcement members briefed on the matter told news outlets. A motive has yet to be established.
The blast came hours after a driver in a rented pickup truck who was flying an ISIS flag plowed into New Year’s Eve revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 15 and injuring more than 30 others before he was shot dead by police.
That pickup truck and the Tesla in the Las Vegas explosion were rented from the same company, Turo, said Clark County/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill.
“I don’t know,” McMahill said when asked at a news conference whether the two incidents are connected. “But we are investigating whether there is any connectivity.”
Turo, in a statement, said the company is actively aiding investigators.
“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 company said.
McMahill said officials know the Tesla was rented in Colorado but declined to divulge the name of the person who died in the inferno.
TSLA shares subsided $15.46, or 3.8%, Thursday to $388.38.
