Elon Musk has leapt to the defense of his Tesla Cybertruck after one of the vehicles exploded outside of a Donald Trump-owned luxury hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on New Year’s Day in what now appears to have been a terrorist incident that left one person dead and seven more injured.
The driver of the truck, which was rented in Colorado and driven south, was killed in the blast and has since been named by local media as US Army veteran Matthew Livelsberger of Colorado Springs.
The incident came just hours after another vehicle ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, leaving 15 people dead and many more hurt.
The world’s richest man, a close ally of the president-elect since the latter stages of last year’s presidential campaign, initially responded to events in Las Vegas on Wednesday night on X, the social media platform he owns, by saying: “The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now.
“Will post more information as soon as we learn anything. We’ve never seen anything like this.”
In an update approximately 80 minutes later, Musk reported that the explosion had not been the result of a technical fault with the truck.
“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,” he wrote.
“All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
Half an hour later, he wrote in response to an MSNBC clip covering the story: “Appears likely to be an act of terrorism.
“Both this Cybertruck and the F-150 suicide bomb in New Orleans were rented from Turo. Perhaps they are linked in some way.”
While investigators have said they are looking at possible connections between the two incidents, there is no basis at the time of writing for suggesting they are indeed linked.
A spokesperson for the Turo app alluded to by Musk said in a statement: “We are heartbroken by the violence perpetrated in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and our prayers are with the victims and families.
“We are actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents.”
They continued: “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.
“We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management, thanks to our world-class trust and safety technologies and teams that include experienced former law enforcement professionals.”
Musk’s final post of the evening regarding the destroyed Cybertuck saw him repost a Fox News clip in which local police praised the robustness of his vehicle for ensuring the incident did not have even deadlier consequences, also noting that it left the Trump hotel largely undamaged.
“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack,” the Tesla owner jeered in celebration.
“Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.
“Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken.”
Musk has since posted a number of complaints about media coverage of the Las Vegas episode, including branding the Associated Press “Associated Propaganda” for initially reporting that the truck involved simply “caught fire”.
He has since posted on a number of unrelated subjects via his X account, from the accomplishments of his SpaceX company and politics in El Salvador to campaigning for the release from prison of British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, having seemingly been influenced by a Robinson-approved documentary.