The vehicles used in two separate incidents, the deadly New Orleans attack and the explosion in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, were rented through the same app, a peer-to-peer service called Turo Was.
Authorities are investigating several similarities between the incidents, involving both trucks – a Ford pickup in New Orleans and Tesla Cybertruck in Las Vegas – was rented from Turo and took place on New Year's Day. Both also included US-born military personnel who served in Afghanistan around the same time frame, but do not appear to have any known relationship.
But on Thursday, Christopher Raia, an FBI official, said that at this point, “no fixed link“Between two events.
In an email to CBS News, a Turo spokesperson said the company is “actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents.”
He added, “We do not believe that any of the tenants involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.”
Turo operates similarly to Airbnb, but with cars instead of houses or apartments. Car owners who are not using their vehicles can rent them to others through the app, which handles screening, billing and other services. In some cases, individuals have become “professional hosts” by renting out fleets of cars through Turo, According For a company filing.
“We are outraged by the abuse of our marketplace by the two individuals who committed these actions,” a Turo spokesperson said in a separate email to CBS MoneyWatch.
Here's what you need to know about Turo.
How many people use Turo?
Turo, launched in 2009, had about 150,000 active hosts who had rented about 350,000 vehicles as of September 30, according to company filings. It said about 3.5 million people rented those cars in the 12-month period to the end of September.
The car rental service operates in 16,000 cities in the US, Australia, France, the UK and Canada.
How do you rent a car on Turo?
Turo says that individuals need an email address, Google Account or Apple ID, and a valid driver's license to use its service. Renters will also be required to provide home address and payment card.
Customers must be at least 18 years of age to rent a car on Turo, or over 25 for more expensive vehicles. For example, to rent a “deluxe” car – which costs between $45,000 and $85,000 – the driver must be over 25 years old. “Super Deluxe” cars, or those priced more than $85,000, are limited to no more than 30 people.
Does Turo screen people who rent cars?
On this website“We may ask for additional photos and information to verify your account and/or check your personal and/or business credit reports, auto insurance scores, and criminal background,” Turo says.
Shamsud-Deen Jabbar, the man who drove a Ford truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence (DUI) charges in 2015. According To CNN.
In the state of Louisiana, a DUI offense is considered a felony on the third and subsequent convictions, According However, first-time DUI offenders can face serious charges in cases where death or violations of child endangerment laws are involved, according to Louisiana court records.
Turo also says it relies on its proprietary “risk score” to assess potential tenants, which relies on “over 50 data inputs”, such as information submitted by customers as well as Parameters set by the car owner.
“Each Turo tenant is vetted through a proprietary multilayer, data science-based trust and security process,” a Turo spokesperson wrote to CBS MoneyWatch.
“These individuals had valid driver's licenses, cleared background checks and were honorably discharged from the U.S. Army,” the spokesperson said. “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 either of these individuals would have been arrested by Big Rental or law enforcement. Must have been marked by anyone, including.”
Who are the people who rented the cars used in the attacks?
driver inside new orleans attackJabbar, 42 years old US born citizen from TexasWas a US Army veteran who lived in Houston. The FBI said that before the attack he had posted several videos declaring his support for ISIS.
Jabbar rented a Ford electric pickup truck from Turo of Houston on December 30, 2024, and drove the vehicle to New Orleans on December 31. On January 1, he jumped through barriers set up on Bourbon Street, including patrol cars and law enforcement, before plowing onto the sidewalk, according to police officials. At least 14 people were killed and dozens were injured in the attack.
In the second incident on January 1, Matthew Allen Leavelsberger, an active-duty U.S. Army Special Forces intelligence sergeant who was serving in Germany but was on leave in Colorado at the time of the incident, rented a Tesla Cybertruck from Turo in Denver .
Officials said the 2024 model Cybertruck reached the glass entrance of the Trump Hotel on Wednesday morning. Smoke started coming out of the car and then there was a huge explosion. Gasoline and camping fuel canisters and large fireworks mortars were found behind the vehicle following the explosion, which occurred approximately 15 seconds after the vehicle struck the building.
The Cybertruck explosion, which is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism, killed the driver of the car and injured seven people outside the vehicle.
The body was “burnt beyond recognition,'' Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said at a briefing Thursday, but the coroner's office later confirmed it was Leavelsberger. Investigators said Livelsberger's military ID, passport and credit cards were found in the vehicle, along with several firearms.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote on his social media app X that the vehicle's structure helped limit the damage.
“The evil scoundrels chose the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack,” wrote Musk. “The Cybertruck had indeed detonated and directed the blast upward. The glass doors of the lobby were not even broken.”