US authorities are working to determine the circumstances surrounding two recent incidents: a car accident in New Orleans that resulted in at least 14 fatalities and an explosion of a Tesla vehicle in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
According to Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, “We are following all possible leads and we are not ruling anything out. However, at this time, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas.”
New Orleans Incident Deemed an Act of Terrorism
The New Orleans incident has been classified as an act of terrorism carried out by a lone US citizen with alleged ties to the Islamic State. Governor Jeff Landry of Louisiana emphasized the need for a strong stance against “evil” to protect US citizens.
Identification of the Deceased in the Las Vegas Explosion
US authorities have identified the individual killed in the Tesla explosion in Las Vegas as Matthew Allan Liveslberger, an active US Army soldier. Liveslberger had rented the Tesla Cybertruck from the same vehicle rental platform used by Shamsuddin Jabbar, the suspect in the New Orleans attack.
Response from US Leaders
President Joe Biden has stated that security forces are investigating potential links between the two incidents. President-elect Donald Trump has expressed his condolences and criticized the current state of security in the US, attributing it to the “Open Borders Policy” of the Biden administration.
Trump has also taken to social media to express his concerns, stating that “radical Islamic terrorism and other forms of violent crime will become so serious in the United States that it will be difficult to even imagine or believe them.”