Instant Reaction: Cybertruck Blast Suspect Identified
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responsible for that division, that area, the Vegas sheriff also, basically, of course, covering what happened when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump Las Vegas Hotel. That was hours after a deadly attack in New Orleans French Quarter on New Year's Eve. That killed at least 15 people, injured dozens. The Cybertruck

explosion, killing the driver and injuring seven others. But Tim, now we know the driver, we're getting more information about what happened leading right up to that explosion. Yeah, the Las Vegas police have identified Matthew Leibelsberger as the suspect, but they still need to get DNA to identify the suspect. The suspect did have a gunshot wound to the head before blast. The sheriff did note that

that he believed it was self-inflicted, but that has yet to be confirmed. The Las Vegas police, Carol, also not aware of any other subjects in this case. I think what's also key is these two incidents happened so close to one another in terms of timing that connections, not ready to rule in, not ready to rule out, is what we heard from that press conference earlier.

Comment made that very strange similarities with the case in New Orleans in terms of what happened in Vegas. The motivation unknown for the Cybertruck blast at that Vegas, Trump Vegas hotel, that coming from the FBI. No ideology leading to either the president-elect nor to Elon Musk nor to Tesla. So there is still more to be known.

You should know Tesla staff is planning to arrive this afternoon to assist with the probe. We just heard that from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The FBI also saying that the blast is being investigated globally, but there's no current evidence connecting the subject to a terror group. But I still would say just one last point that confident, at least we're hearing from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, that they are confident in the safety of their community at this point. Let's get to the broader security implications for the United States. Nick's

Nick Wadhams is back with us, National Security Team Leader at Bloomberg News. He joins us from our D.C. bureau. A lot going on. We continue to get some more elements to this story, more information, Nick. But how, what are you hearing from your sources or from the U.S. security and intelligence areas and departments about where this goes or what are the many big questions that maybe are still out there?

Well, it looks like the biggest question now has essentially been answered, which to a lot of people's mind was what was the connection between these two incidents. Obviously, during the press conference there, you heard the sheriff say that there were certain similarities, but officials are now saying essentially that they see no direct connection between

between these two attacks. There had been some reporting that the two suspects may have, they were both obviously US military veterans, may have overlapped briefly at a base in the United States during their time when they served. But for the moment, that looks like it was a little bit of a false trail.

and there was no connection, though that was a lot of people's immediate instinct. The other thing that really struck me from that press conference was them saying they are looking globally, so trying to figure out what

But putting each of these attacks in their context, obviously there was the New Orleans attack. The suspect had an Islamic State flag in his car, authorities said. No such indication on the Las Vegas one. But it looks like authorities are not ruling out the possibility that these may have not been lone actors, that they might have had some support network. So that's still a big unknown that we're looking into.

What surprised me or what really struck me, Nick, during this press conference, especially compared to the one we saw with the FBI and other law enforcement officials out of New Orleans earlier today, was that in New Orleans, officials were very quick to say this was terrorism. It's being treated as terrorism. We didn't hear that from this press conference this afternoon. How do you read into that?

Well, a very thorny and sensitive issue how these attacks get labeled terrorism or not. I would suspect that the reason for the New Orleans attack being labeled that way was they found that Islamic State

There was a lot of conflicting information, of course, going around in the run-up to that, whether the suspect was a migrant, had come from abroad, when in fact we learned he was a U.S. citizen, had served in the Army for many years.

But when you see that flag, that Islamic State flag in the car, that's a pretty telling indication. Of course, the big question there again is, was this suspect inspired by the Islamic State, essentially self-radicalized, as has happened with some attacks in the past?

Or was this some bigger operation or part of some bigger operation by the group, which we do have indications has sort of come back after the punishing campaign by the U.S. to essentially eliminate it, that there has been something of a resurgence?

However, at this time, I mean, again, stressing there is still so much we don't know about either of these attacks. I think in the case of the New Orleans one, there is no immediate evidence that this was planned or orchestrated with the Islamic State, which still has a toehold in Syria. And all indications suggest that the suspect there had essentially been self-radicalized. But we're still trying to answer all those questions.

No, absolutely. And Nick, you know, I feel like we do have a fair amount more answers as you are laying out and as we just heard in that press conference. But what's top of mind for you in terms of kind of the big question that still needs to be answered?

Well, I think, you know, really there's the very interesting fact that both were military veterans. A lot of issues are coming to light about the background of the New Orleans attacker and the strain he had potentially been under at home. We know a lot less about the attacker in Las Vegas, though I did think it was also very interesting from

from the press conference there that they said, hey, you know, they believe the effectiveness of the bomb was not sort of in keeping with the level of experience they thought that the suspect there had, which I think is obviously an indication, as officials have said, that he was a special operator there.

in the U.S. military. But certainly the fact that both appear to be American citizens, both Army veterans, one we know served in Afghanistan. We're still trying to get details of the Las Vegas attacker's military record. But there are some similarities there that really beg some big questions.

And we're going to be trying to figure that out over the next couple of days. Right. That one response by one of the officials at that Vegas press conference, media conference, comment made that very strange similarities with the case in New Orleans, what happened in Vegas. So still some more answers that we will all be looking forward to. Nick, really appreciate it. Nick Wadhams, he's national security team leader right here at Bloomberg News, joining us right there from our bureau in the nation's capital.

From Washington, D.C. now to Detroit, I want to bring in Bloomberg News auto reporter Keith Naughton for more on this and then some other Tesla news that we learned a little earlier today that Tesla's annual vehicle sales dropped for the first time in more than a decade, despite a year-end push that sent deliveries to a record in the fourth quarter. Tesla shares selling off as a result. We're going to get to that in just a minute, Keith, but I do want to start with

the news just moments ago that we learned from officials in Las Vegas that members of Tesla staff are on their way to Las Vegas to assist law enforcement agents with finding information from this cyber truck that yesterday had an explosive device or explosive devices in it. I'm curious what types of information they can get from what happens inside of Tesla, what happens outside of Tesla, because for people who aren't familiar with these vehicles,

These have quite a few cameras recording at all times on the outside.

- Oh, for sure. So, you know, modern vehicles, particularly Teslas are highly sophisticated. They have a lot of devices that record what goes on in the car, cameras being one of them. And so while they're not for the level of a black box on the jet or something like that, it can provide a lot of important information if you're doing an investigation like this. You know, we have two incidents yesterday, the one in Vegas with the Tesla Cybertruck

and then the attack in New Orleans on Bourbon Street, and that was with a Ford F-150 Lightning. I've been on the phone with Ford this morning, and they are also cooperating with authorities to provide them any information they can glean from that F-150 Lightning. So the way modern cars, particularly electric vehicles, these are both electric vehicles, both rented from Turo, by the way,

And so they can provide all sorts of interesting and helpful data as this investigation goes on. I got to ask you, Keith. OK. And again, forgive us, folks, because we're trying to be very careful here and really just talk about facts and stuff. But is it interesting that both were electric vehicles?

Yeah, well, I mean, one way to look at that, and again, I don't want to go too far into the speculation category, but electric vehicles, in the case of the New Orleans attack, they are powered by a battery that is very heavy, that adds thousands of pounds of weight to the vehicle. So, you know, if you're looking to maximize destructive properties, more weight will do that. Keith, what do you make of the Turo connection here? I think a lot of folks...

might be familiar with traditional places to rent a vehicle, but are now hearing about Turo for the first time. Right. And Turo, you know, it can be a little bit like a...

automotive Airbnb, sometimes it's individuals who are renting out their exotic cars. Turo has been known for exotics and for electric vehicles. We don't know, or I don't know the details of how these two were rented and where they come from. I know that in the case of Ford, from my conversations with them, they're trying to help with that. But it is a rental traditionally that has rented cars

more exotic cars, different cars, electric vehicles, not your standard, you know, Hertz and Atis. All right. Going to leave it on that note. Keith Naughton, thank you so much. Auto Reporter at Bloomberg News joining us from Detroit. This podcast is supported by BetterHelp, offering licensed therapists you can connect with via video, phone, or chat. Here's BetterHelp head of clinical operations, Hesu Jo, discussing who can benefit from therapy. I think a

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