Investigators are probing whether the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas that killed its driver and injured at least seven others was linked to another attack in New Orleans, in which a suspect drove a rented pickup truck into a crowd of pedestrians.
The Cybertruck, driven by a man identified as Matthew Livelsberger, an active duty U.S. Army Special Operations Soldier, was filed with gas canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars, police say, and detonated on Wednesday morning, hours after the mass killing in New Orleans that claimed 15 lives.
Videos posted to social media showed the vehicle aflame in front of the hotel's entrance and people being escorted out of the building.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said at a press conference Wednesday that authorities “believe this to be an isolated incident,” but have not yet ruled out a connection to the New Orleans attack. President Joe Biden confirmed later in the day that law enforcement was searching for any potential links.
“Law enforcement, the intelligence community are investigating” the Las Vegas explosion, “including whether there is any possible connection to the attack in New Orleans,” Biden said to reporters at Camp David.
While there is no indication yet that Livelsberger had any association with ISIS, whose flag was found in the back of the New Orleans pickup truck, the FBI is still investigating whether the explosion “was an act of terrorism or not.”
“I know everybody’s interested in that word and trying to see if we can say, ‘Hey this is a terrorist attack,’” said Jeremy Schwartz, the acting FBI special agent responsible for Las Vegas. “That is our goal, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
According to multiple reports, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the now-dead suspect in the New Orleans case, had become "radicalized" and recorded several videos of himself expounding on dreams that inspired him to join ISIS, which U.S. officials have warned is re-emerging as a potential threat to the homeland.
Both Livelsberger and Jabbar obtained their vehicles from Turo, a car rental app. Authorities traced the Cybertruck back to Colorado using surveillance video from charging stations along the driver's route, later confirming the driver's identity as a resident of Colorado Springs.
Sheriff McMahill said he believed the Turo connection was nothing more than a "coincidence." A Turo spokesperson told the New York Times that neither Livelsberger nor Jabbar “had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.”
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