Firework mortars and camp fuel canisters have been found stuffed into the back of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel, killing a suspect inside the vehicle and sparking an intense investigation into possible terrorism.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark County Fire Department officials said a person died inside the futuristic-looking truck on Wednesday and seven people nearby suffered minor injuries.
By the late afternoon, authorities were still working to get the body out of the vehicle and start processing the evidence inside. President Joe Biden was briefed on the explosion.
Authorities are working to determine whether the person who rented the truck is the same person who died.
"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 knew who rented the truck with the Turo app in Colorado, but were not releasing the name until investigators determined if it was the same person who died.
McMahill said video captured at Telsa charging stations provided by chief executive Elon Musk helped authorities track the vehicle's journey, arriving in Las Vegas about 7.30am, then driving about an hour later into the valet area of the Trump International Hotel, where it sat 15 to 20 seconds before the explosion occurred.
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 truck.
The truck bed walls were still intact because the blast shot straight up rather than to the sides.
Musk said on X that "we have now confirmed that 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".
In an earlier post, Musk said his entire senior team was investigating the explosion, adding: "We've never seen anything like this."
Musk has recently become a member of Trump's inner circle.
Neither Trump nor Musk were in Las Vegas early on Wednesday, with both attending Trump's New Year's Eve party at Trump's estate in South Florida.
Trump has named Musk, the world's richest man, to co-lead a new effort to find ways to cut the government's size and spending.
"This is a Tesla truck, and we know that Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump, and it's the Trump Tower," McMahill said when reporters asked about possible political connections.
"So there's obviously things to be concerned about and it's something we continue to look at."
The truck explosion came hours after a driver rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans' famed French Quarter early on New Year's Day, killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police.
Authorities were keeping an open mind on terrorism links, Sheriff Kevin McMahill said.
That crash was being investigated as a terrorist attack and police believe the driver was not acting 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.
"We aren't ruling anything out."
Turo said it was working with authorities, but it did not believe 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 64-storey hotel in Las Vegas is just off the Strip and across the street from the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall.
Eric Trump, a son of the president-elect and executive vice-president of the Trump Organisation, posted on X, praising the fire department and local law enforcement "for their swift response and professionalism".
with Reuters
