One would imagine that the attack on Bourbon Street would be more than enough terrorist attacks for this point in 2025. Since this is just the first day, though, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Unfortunately, there’s a strong chance we’ve just experienced a second terrorist attack of the year, this time with an exploding Cybertruck in Las Vegas.

Authorities are investigating a Tesla Cybertruck explosion on Wednesday outside the Trump Las Vegas hotel in Nevada as a possible act of terror, an official said.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said it was investigating a fire at the entrance to the tower. The public was told to avoid the area, though the police noted the fire had been put out.

The driver pulled into the valet area of the hotel and the vehicle exploded, according to an official. The driver was killed and, so far, the only casualty from the incident. Seven bystanders had minor injuries, authorities said.

Investigators do not know what caused the blast, such as whether something was wrong with the vehicle or whether something external prompted it. Determining what was behind the explosion is the key focus of the probe.

An official briefed on the probe told ABC News that the Tesla Cybertruck had a load of fireworks-style mortars onboard. Investigators are urgently working to determine a motive and whether the driver intended to set off an explosion and why.

Until a motive is determined and other possibilities are ruled out, police are treating the explosion like a possible criminal act and a possible act of terror. Evidence collection and investigation are ongoing.

The fact that this is a Cybertruck–an electric vehicle–makes it feel like it’s far less likely to be an accident of some sort.

It’s not that electric vehicles can’t explode. They can and do, but usually after there’s already been a fire, at least from what I’ve seen looking into this. The fire triggers the chemicals and whatnot to ignore, resulting in an explosion, but based on the above report, that doesn’t sound like what happened here. 

In this case, it seems the vehicle just exploded, then things caught fire, much like you’d see in an internal combustion vehicle…or a car bomb.

Of course, the only person killed was the driver, though others were injured, so it’s entirely possible this was just a bizarre accident.

Law enforcement doesn’t want to make that assumption, though. They also likely don’t want to look as stupid as the FBI did in New Orleans after saying that attack wasn’t terrorism, only to have to admit that no, it really was. Saying they’re investigating it as terrorism is just safer.

Plus, there are things they’ll do in such an investigation that would rule out terrorism if it’s nothing of the sort.

My sincere hope is that this is just a tragic accident and not a second terrorist attack to mark the new year. One was more than enough, as I’m sure we can all agree, but if it’s not an accident, then every law-abiding American needs to go armed everywhere they can from here on forward, because I’d love nothing more than to see the next attempted attack ended with two rounds to the chest, one round into the head by a good guy on the scene.