The name of the suspect found dead inside an explosives-filled Tesla Cybertruck that blew up outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel on Wednesday, New Year’s Day 2025, could soon be released.
Investigators are also working to determine whether or not the explosion could be politically motivated or linked to the New Orleans attack, in which a truck rammed a crowd and killed 10 people on the same day. That crash is being investigated as a terrorist attack and police think the driver did not act alone.
“This is a Tesla truck, and we know that Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump, and it’s the Trump Tower,” Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Wednesday when asked about possible connections. “So there’s obviously things to be concerned about and it’s something we continue to look at.”
Officials are withholding the name of the person who rented the truck via an app in Colorado until determining it is the same person who died, McMahill said.
“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, on Wednesday. “Following that, our second objective is to determine whether this was an act of terrorism or not.”
