A man shot himself in the head before the Cybertruck exploded outside Trump's Las Vegas hotel, officials said
The heavily decorated soldier inside the Tesla Cybertruck that burst into flames outside US president-elect Donald Trump's hotel in Las Vegas shot himself in the head before exploding. He may have been planning to cause more damage, but the explosion was unusual and the metal-sided car absorbed too much energy, officials said Thursday.
Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference that a gun was found at the feet of the man, who officials believe to be Matthew Livelsberger. Officials believe the shooting was self-inflicted.
The damage caused by the explosion was mostly concentrated inside the truck. The blast “came from above” and did not hit the doors of Trump's hotel just a few feet away, the sheriff said.
“The level of sophistication is not what we would expect from someone with this type of military experience,” said Kenny Cooper, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Among the other burned items found inside the truck were a second handgun, several explosives, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smart watch, McMahill said.
Authorities said both guns were legally purchased. Investigators have not yet identified the remains as Livelsberger's, but identification and body art “give a strong indication that it is him,” the official said.
Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to fight terrorism overseas and train their counterparts, the military said in a statement. He has served in the military since 2006, rising through the ranks for a long overseas deployment, deployed twice to Afghanistan and served in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the military said.
He was awarded two Bronze Stars, including one for gallantry under fire, an infantryman's badge and a battalion commendation medal. Livelsberger was on authorized leave at the time of his death, according to the statement.
The FBI said Thursday in an email to X that it was “conducting a law enforcement operation” at a home in Colorado Springs, Colo., related to Wednesday's explosion but did not provide further details.
The explosion of the truck, which was packed with explosives and petrol cans, happened hours after Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, rammed his truck into a crowd in the French capital of New Orleans early on New Year's Day, killing at least 14 people earlier. being shot by the police and killed. That crash was being investigated as a terrorist attack.
The FBI said Thursday it believes Jabbar acted alone, reversing its earlier position that he may have worked with others.
Both Livelsberger and Jabbar spent time at what was then known as Fort Bragg, a large Army base in North Carolina that houses many military special operations units.
However, one of the officials who spoke to the Associated Press said that there is no change in their assignments at the center, which is now called Fort Liberty.
Chris Raia, deputy director of the FBI, said Thursday that officials found “no direct connection” between the New Orleans attack and the Las Vegas truck explosion.
One person was killed and seven were injured Wednesday when a Tesla Cybertruck that appeared to be carrying explosives burst into flames outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, authorities said.
Seven people nearby received minor injuries when the Tesla truck exploded. The video showed burning firecrackers, cans and other explosives falling from the back of the car. The walls of the truck bed were still intact because the blast shot straight up rather than sideways.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday afternoon on X that “we have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by a very large explosive and/or bomb that was placed in the bed of a rented Cybertruck and is not related to the vehicle itself.”
“All vehicle telemetry was fine at the time of the explosion,” Musk wrote.
Musk recently became a member of Trump's inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk were in Las Vegas early Wednesday. Both attended Trump's New Year's Eve party at his South Florida estate.
Authorities know who rented the truck through the Turo app in Colorado, McMahill, the elected official of Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, said Wednesday. He did not release the identity of the person.
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