New Year's Day got off to a tragic and explosive start. In New Orleans, a driver drove through a crowd on Bourbon Street killing 15 people. Meanwhile, a Cybertruck exploded outside of the Trump Hotel later in the day in Las Vegas.
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It turns out that there's a strange connection between the two. At this time, authorities are investigating to see if the two incidents are more closely connected. But, it turns out the driver of the Cybertruck that exploded also served at the same military base as the New Orleans terrorist.
It could be a strange morbid coincidence. After all, there are many members of the armed forces, so I'm sure there will be some overlap there as far as bases go. But it's a strange link between the two cases. Both men allegedly planned their individual attacks, and both died on New Year's Day.
The Cybertruck suspect served at the same base as Shamsud Din Jabbar. Jabbar fatally ran down 15 people before dying in a confrontation with the police. Meanwhile, the Cybertruck suspect rented the Tesla vehicle in Colorado before driving it to Las Vegas.
Cybertruck Attack And Bourbon Street
Authorities found the charred remains of fireworks, gas cans, and fuel in the bed of the vehicle. The suspect died in the resulting blast. But based on the evidence this was indeed intentional. earlier in the day, Jabbar drove through Bourbon Street, also driving an electric vehicle.
Both rented their vehicles through Turo. Authorities have not ruled out that the two were in cahoots.
"Do I think it's a coincidence? I don't know," Sheriff Kevin McMahill said. "We're absolutely looking into any connections to New Orleans."
Meanwhile, Turo released a statement after the incidents in Las Vegas and Bourbon Street. A spokesperson said that the company is heartbroken. See the full statement below.
"We remain shocked and saddened by yesterday's horrific events, and our hearts are with the victims and their families. We are outraged by the misuse of our marketplace by the two individuals who perpetrated these acts.
Every Turo renter is screened through a proprietary multi-layer, data-science-based trust and safety process. We utilize over 50 internal and external data sources to build, maintain, and improve on our best-in-class Turo Risk Score.
These individuals in question had valid driver's licenses, clean background checks, one was honorably discharged from the US military, and the other was an active-duty Army green beret. They could have boarded any plane, checked into a hotel, or rented a car or truck from a traditional vehicle rental chain. We do not believe these two individuals would have been flagged by anyone - including Big Rental or law enforcement.
Turo operates a safe and trusted marketplace. As of September 30, 2024, we have collected data from over 90 million booked days, 27 million trips, 8.6 billion miles driven, through 12 years of operating history, less than 0.10% of Turo trips end with a serious incident such as a vehicle theft."
Indeed, both had a military background that likely made them not draw any suspicion on paper.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk wrote, "Law enforcement currently believes it was most likely intentional. Both this Cybertruck and the F-150 suicide bomb in New Orleans were rented from Turo. Perhaps they are linked in some way."
