The FBI has identified the driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas Wednesday morning. Investigators say 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger of Colorado Springs died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head moments before his rented Cybertruck, which was packed with fireworks and fuel canisters, dramatically burst into flames. Seven people suffered minor injuries from what the FBI now believes was an intentional explosion.
Livelsberger was a decorated active-duty Special Operations soldier, attaining the rank of master sergeant in the U.S. Army. From 2017 to 2019, he served three tours of duty in Afghanistan. Before that, he deployed to the Republic of Congo, Ukraine and Tajikistan. Livelsberger was on leave from his base in Germany and rented the Tesla Cybertruck on December 28. FBI special agent Spencer Evans says investigators are still searching for a motive.
Spencer Evans: “We know we have a bombing, absolutely. And it’s a bombing that certainly has factors that raise concern. It’s not lost on us that it’s in front of, you know, of the Trump building, that it’s a Tesla vehicle. But we don’t have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology or that — you know, any of the reasoning behind it.”
The FBI says it had not found any association between the Cybertruck explosion and the attack in New Orleans earlier on New Year’s Day. Both suspects served in the U.S. Army, including overlapping assignments at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, but there’s no evidence they knew each other.