What is known about the Tesla driver who exploded at the Trump Hotel

The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday has been identified as Matthew Alan Livelsberger, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.

Livelsberger was an Army Special Forces chief operations sergeant, a senior enlisted rank, according to four U.S. officials.

He was on active duty in Germany with the 10th Special Forces Group but was on leave at the time of the explosion, three officials said.

The U.S. Army said Thursday in a statement that Livelsberger was on leave at the time of his death, although it did not specifically say he died in the Vegas explosion.

U.S. Special Forces, commonly known as “Green Berets,” describes itself as an elite fighting force specializing in guerrilla warfare and unconventional tactics abroad.

Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Thursday at a news conference that the driver shot himself in the head before the explosion that injured seven people outside the Trump hotel.

While McMahill and other officers referred to the driver only as the “subject” and “person of interest,” they showed a photo of Livelsberger and gave his name at the news conference.

McMahill said authorities are not identifying Livelsberger as the person found inside the Cybertruck because the body was burned beyond recognition.

“I will not return until I have confirmation through DNA or medical records that this is in fact the subject inside the vehicle,” McMahill said.

McMahill also said authorities “are confident that this is in fact the same person” because the body in the vehicle had two tattoos, on the stomach and on the arm, which Livelsberger also had. Livelsberger’s wife identified the tattoos, a police officer told CNN .

Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas Division, said the driver’s motive remains unknown and authorities are not aware of any connections “to any terrorist organization around the world.”

The explosion had some general similarities to the vehicle attack in New Orleans on Wednesday, as both involved a symbolic target on New Year’s Day, a truck rented by the website Turo, and a suspect with a military background.

Authorities said they are investigating possible links between the two attacks, but have repeatedly called the Vegas explosion an “isolated incident.”

“At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas,” FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia said Thursday.

The FBI in Denver, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Colorado Springs Police Department are conducting “law enforcement activities” at a Colorado Springs home related to the explosion, the FBI said.

How the case unfolded

The Cybertruck was rented on Dec. 28 in Denver and made stops at several Tesla charging stations in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada before pulling into Las Vegas on New Year’s morning, McMahill said.

The truck was first seen in the city at 7:29 a.m., drove up and down Las Vegas Boulevard and then arrived at the Trump Hotel, where a combination of fireworks and gas tanks in the truck’s bed were detonated by a device controlled by the driver. , said the police.

Closed-circuit television video shown by police captured the moment the truck exploded. In related images on social media, the vehicle is enveloped in smoke while being doused with water.

During a news conference, police shared images revealing burned gasoline containers and fireworks mortars found among the wreckage. Authorities are still working to access footage from cameras inside the Cybertruck, which likely captured video during the incident, McMahill said.

Guests at the Trump International Hotel at the time of the explosion said the windows shook, even from more than 40 stories up.

The guests, who did not want to be publicly identified, said they saw smoke coming from the stairs and elevator doors. The elevator service was closed and they had to stay on the floor they were on.

On Thursday, damage from the explosion was visible in the valet area of ​​the Trump Hotel. Parts of the roof had smoke damage, and the awning had a hole several feet wide.

Similarities to the attack in New Orleans

The explosion in Las Vegas came shortly after a deadly attack in New Orleans, where a driver with US military experience crashed a rented pickup truck into a crowd celebrating the New Year on Bourbon Street on Wednesday morning, killing 14. people.

The man, who was killed in a shootout with police after the attack, was identified as a Texas Army veteran and had an Islamic State flag in his vehicle. He said in videos taken before the attack that he had joined the terrorist group, authorities said.

Turo, which operates an online platform for car owners to rent their vehicles, reported that its service was used to rent vehicles involved in the tragic events in New Orleans and Las Vegas and is cooperating with authorities.

“We do not believe that any of the renters involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had criminal records that would identify them as a security threat,” a Turo spokesperson told CNN .

In military service, both men were stationed at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, formerly known as Fort Bragg, but there is no record that they served in the same unit or during the same years, McMahill said Thursday.

The men also served in Afghanistan in 2009, but McMahill said they were not in the same province or the same unit.

“If these are just similarities, very strange similarities to have, then we are not prepared to decide or rule out anything at this time,” McMahill said. “We haven’t even gotten to the phones or computers which are generally very, very instructive and informative for us as we investigate,” he added.

Livelsberger was a member of the 10th Special Forces Group, which has people deployed to Germany, where they work with the US Army’s African Command.

Special Forces units have been involved in several anti-terrorism missions in Africa, fighting local groups with connections to the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. He was deployed to Germany and returned to the US on leave at Christmas time, a defense official told CNN .

A LinkedIn page with the name “Matt Livelsberger” shows a photograph of a special forces operator wearing a helmet, goggles and snow camouflage atop a snowmobile with a semi-automatic rifle with a telescopic sight.

The profile lists his experience as 19 years in Army Special Forces with a specialization in “intelligence and operations.” Police authorities confirmed to CNN who believed the page belonged to Livelsberger.

Police thanked Elon Musk

The explosion could have been significantly worse if not for the construction of the vehicle’s body, which helped contain the detonation, police said.

McMahill said the Cybertruck’s body construction significantly reduced damage to the hotel’s valet area, as most of the blast was directed upward, leaving the building’s front glass intact during the blast.

“The fact that it was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that occurred inside the valet because it took the majority of the explosion. Climbing into the truck and leaving,” he said.

“You will see that the front glass doors of the Trump hotel were not even broken by the explosion, which they were parked right in front of,” he added.

“I have to specifically thank Elon Musk,” McMahill said, noting that the Tesla CEO gave authorities “a lot of additional information,” including directly sending videos of his charging stations to help in their efforts to track the driver.

“We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is not related to the vehicle itself,” Musk said in a post on X.

“All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” Musk added, referring to the automaker’s system that collects and transmits data about a vehicle’s performance and status in real time and can monitor mileage and track distance. traveled, among other resources.

Authorities also noted the implications of the Tesla vehicle and the hotel’s namesake.

“It’s a Tesla truck, and we know Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump, and it’s the Trump tower,” McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said Wednesday. “So obviously there are things to be concerned about, and that’s something we continue to look at,” he added.

Musk has emerged as a key player in Trump’s orbit as he transitions to a second term in the White House.

The president-elect chose the technology mogul, along with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, to oversee a new Department of Government Efficiency, with the aim of cutting government spending.

This content was originally published in What is known about the Tesla driver who exploded at the Trump Hotel on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil