Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old active military man, was the man he had rented and who exploded this Wednesday in front of the Trump International hotel in Las Vegas. The identity of the suspect has been confirmed by official sources to the AP agency. This Thursday, the FBI was checking the individual’s residence in the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado, from where he drove for more than ten hours to the tourist city to commit what.
Livelsberger died from a gunshot wound to the head before the explosion, according to a Las Vegas coroner’s analysis. City authorities stated this morning in a press conference that a Desert Eagle semi-automatic pistol was found at the feet of the victim inside the Cybertruck. The wound was self-inflicted, according to Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill.
The sheriff has been cautious with the progress of the investigations. “I know the media has already identified this person, but his charred body has made identification difficult. “I still am not 100% certain that this is the individual inside the vehicle,” McMahill said. Inside the Cybertruck, however, a military identification in the name of Matthew Livelsberger, his passport and his credit cards were found.
Livelsberger was a member of the so-called Green Berets, the army’s elite group expert in guerrilla tactics. He had joined the force in 2006 and had received training at the famous Fort Bragg, today called Fort Liberty, a large Navy base located in the State of North Carolina where soldiers are trained in anti-terrorist strategies.
Livelsberger was a member of the 10th Special Forces Group. I was in the United States on leave to spend the Christmas season. Its base was in Germany, two Pentagon sources assured The Wall Street Journal. He also served in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and the Congo. The soldier was awarded a pair of Bronze stars, one of them for merit in combat, and had not shown any behavioral problems in his 19 years in the armed forces, both active and in reserve.
His most recent job, according to his LinkedIn page, deactivated after the incident, was in charge of autonomous and remote systems. This means that he was responsible for the operation and maintenance of Army drones. The page was last updated in November and showed Livelsberger dressed in a special winter military uniform and holding an automatic rifle.
Members of Livelsberger’s family have expressed surprise at the events. Dean, an uncle of the suspect, has described his nephew to the press as a very patriotic “super soldier.” “He loved his country and Donald Trump 100%,” said the military man, a veteran of the Vietnam War.
Since Wednesday night, some details about Livelsberger began to emerge. FBI agents and journalists approached the Colorado Springs address that the man used to rent the vehicle, a Tesla brand electric truck (owned by tycoon Elon Musk) through the Turo application.
The tracking of the Cybertruck was possible thanks to the collaboration of Musk and several Tesla employees, who provided the authorities with information on the charging stations that Livelsberger used on his more than 1,200 kilometers of route, which crosses the State of Utah.
According to Sheriff McMahill, Livelsberger entered town just after 7:30 a.m. He walked several turns along the main boulevard until he headed to the Trump International hotel, a 64-story tower located north of the Strip, the area full of casinos and hotels in the gambling capital. It was parked for about 15 seconds in front of the doors of the establishment, during which time smoke began to come out of the Cybertruck. Seconds later it exploded.
McMahill on Wednesday showed photos of the charred remains of the electric vehicle, which has become famous for its hard lines and futuristic styling. According to the sheriff, this design would have helped reduce the impact of the detonation, which did not even break the hotel’s windows despite being a few meters from the lobby.
Images released by authorities showed that the Cybertruck’s bed was filled with gasoline tanks and fireworks mortars. Their colorful fire was captured by some of the hotel’s security cameras.
There was speculation since Wednesday afternoon with the possibility that the detonation of the Cybertruck was , which left 14 people dead early in the new year. This was carried out by , a 42-year-old Army veteran who had also trained at Fort Bragg. However, Jabbar and Livelsberger did not coincide in those military installations either in years or in units, according to military sources told the AP agency. The FBI has ruled out, for the moment, that the two events are related.
“Our first objective is to accurately identify this individual,” Jeremy Schwartz, the FBI agent in charge in Las Vegas, said Wednesday. “The next step is to determine if this is an act of terrorism,” added Schwartz, who said he believed it was an “isolated event” and that the main suspect worked alone and without help to carry out the explosion. Sheriff McMahill also assured this morning that no other person boarded the Cybertruck during Livelsberger’s trip to Las Vegas.
