The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas has been identified as Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old active-duty U.S. special forces soldier from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Officials confirmed that Livelsberger shot himself dead before the blast.
According to the Clark County Coroner’s office, Livelsberger’s cause of death was ruled a suicide by self-inflicted gunshot wound. The explosion, which occurred on New Year’s Day, resulted in injuries to seven individuals, though all were reported as minor.
Livelsberger drove the rented Cybertruck over 800 miles to the Nevada hotel, arriving just hours before the explosion. The vehicle was parked near a glass entrance when it began to emit smoke and subsequently detonated. Authorities reported that the Cybertruck helped contain the explosion, directing it vertically instead of outward, which spared the nearby hotel’s glass doors and windows from shattering.
At a press conference, Sheriff Kevin McMahill noted that investigators had not yet established a motive for the incident. “I’m comfortable calling it a suicide with a bombing that occurred immediately after,” he stated.
Inside the charred vehicle, authorities discovered a military ID, a passport, two semi-automatic pistols, fireworks, an iPhone, a smartwatch, and various credit cards in Livelsberger’s name. His remains were severely burned and identified through tattoos matching those on Livelsberger.
The Cybertruck was rented on December 28 in Denver, and police tracked Livelsberger’s movements using photographs from his drive and Tesla’s charging technology that recorded his stops. He was the sole driver of the vehicle.
Sheriff McMahill also noted several parallels between Livelsberger and a suspect in a truck attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people on the same day. Both individuals were associated with Fort Bragg in North Carolina, although there’s no record of them serving in the same unit or overlapping during their deployments in Afghanistan in 2009.
Authorities have stated that there is no ongoing threat from Livelsberger or anyone associated with him in Las Vegas. With extensive military experience, he was a decorated Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant serving in Germany on approved leave for the incident.
Livelsberger’s father shared with CBS that his son had returned to Colorado to visit his wife and eight-month-old daughter, and he last spoke to Matthew at Christmas, noting that everything seemed normal at that time.
Credit: BBC News
