A man who died in the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks and fuel canisters outside Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel was a US soldier, officials said.
Two law enforcement officials identified the man inside the futuristic-looking pick-up truck as Matthew Livelsberger.
They said that Livelsberger was an active-duty Army member who spent time at the base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a massive centre in North Carolina that is home to special forces command.
The explosion came hours after a driver, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 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.
That crash is being investigated as a terrorist attack and police believe the driver was not acting alone.
Jabbar, a US Army veteran, also spent time at Fort Bragg but one official said so far there is no overlap in their assignments there.
Police Department Sheriff Kevin 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 local time, 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, cannisters and other explosive devices crowded into the back of the pick-up. The truck bed walls were still intact because the blast shot straight up rather than to the sides.
Mr Musk said on Wednesday afternoon 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”.
He continued: “All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
In an earlier post on the platform Mr Musk said that his entire senior team was investigating the explosion, adding: “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
Mr Musk has recently become a member of Mr Trump’s inner circle. Neither Mr Trump nor Mr Musk were in Las Vegas early on Wednesday. Both had attended Mr Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at Mr Trump’s estate in South Florida.
Mr Musk was at Mr Trump’s resort on election night and has been a frequent guest there. Mr Trump has named Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, to co-lead a new effort to find ways to cut the government’s size and spending.
The valet area outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is seen after the fire and explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck (Sam Morris/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
“This is a Tesla truck, and we know that Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump, and it’s the Trump Tower,” Mr 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.”
Witness Ana Bruce, who was visiting from Brazil, said she heard three explosions.
“The first one where we saw the fire, the second one, I guess, was the battery or something like that, and the third was the big one that smoked the entire area and was the moment when everyone was told to evacuate and stay away,” Ms Bruce said.
Her travel companion, Alcides Antunes, showed video he took of flames lapping the sides of the silver-coloured vehicle.
The 64-storey hotel is just off the Las Vegas 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 about the fire on the social media platform X. He praised the fire department and local law enforcement “for their swift response and professionalism”.