'No Definitive Link' Between New Orleans Attack and Tesla Cybertruck Explosion at Trump Hotel: FBI

Mar. 15, 2025

New Orleans and Las Vegas were the sites of two deadly incidents on New Year’s Day 2025.Photo:Patt Little/Anadolu via Getty; David Becker for the Washington Post

Patt Little/Anadolu via Getty; David Becker for the Washington Post

Referencing the New Orleans attack, FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia said at the press conference that authorities “do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack.”

Bourbon Street in New Orleans is closed off with crime tape as law enforcement investigates the New Year’s Day attack.Michael DeMocker/Getty

Michael DeMocker/Getty

The deadly Jan. 1 incidents dominated the first news cycle of 2025 as harrowing details from both scenes came to light.

In New Orleans, Army veteranShamsud-Din Jabbar, 42,drove a rented pickup truck into a crowdon Bourbon Street around 3:15 a.m. before exiting the vehicle and exchanging gunfire with police, according to law enforcement. His actionskilled at least 15 peopleand injured dozens more.

Jabbar’s social media videos also showed that the assailant initially planned to harm his own family and friends, but said that doing so wouldn’t sufficiently highlight what Jabbar termed “the war between the believers and the disbelievers,” according to Raia.

Security footage of a Tesla Cybertruck exploding in the valet area of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.EyePress News/Shutterstock

EyePress News/Shutterstock

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Explosives in the back of the Tesla Cybertruck that burst into flames outside Trump Hotel Las Vegas.Las Vegas Metropolitan Police/Youtube

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police/Youtube

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said in apress conferencethat “gasoline canisters,” “camp fuel canisters” and “large firework mortars” were found in the back of the vehicle, contributing to the dramatic blast.

FBI agent Jeremy Schwartz added that federal investigators were considering whether the explosion was an act of terrorism.

While delivering a speech on Wednesday, Jan. 1, PresidentJoe Bidensaid that police were seeking to determine whether the incidents in New Orleans and Las Vegas were linked, though at the time he said there was so far “nothing to report.”

source: people.com