The driver of the Cybertruck that exploded on Jan. 1 in front of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas identified as 37-year-old Master Sgt. Matthew Alan Livelsberger
Authorities have identified the driver of the Cybertruck that exploded in front of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas as 37-year-old Master Sgt. Matthew Alan Livelsberger. In a news briefing Thursday afternoon, police say they still don’t have 100 percent confirmation because he was “burned beyond recognition” in the Jan. 1 blast. They are waiting for a test to confirm his identity.
Livelsberger was found to have a gunshot wound to the head, which investigators think was self inflicted.
Officials found several items in the vehicle including multiple firearms, fireworks, a military ID, an iPhone and several credit cards. The FBI and local law enforcement officials are still looking for a motive.
He was an active-duty soldier in the U.S. Army. The man who killed at least 15 people and injured many more on New Year’s Day in New Orleans was eerily similar to Shamsud-DinJabbar. McMahill said both men served at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, though there’s no indication they served in the same unit. They both used CarRentals to rent the vehicles used in these attacks, and they served in Afghanistan in 2009. McMahill said details on additional parallels are unknown. Intelligence and law enforcement officials are looking into a possible connection between the two incidents.
Livelsberger worked in the Army from January 2006 to March 2011. He joined the Army Reserve from July 2012 to December 2012 after joining the National Guard from March 2011.
Black Hole Cybertruck Shooting: The Cybertruck’s Two Collision victims, and the Identity of the Explosion in Las Vegas
On Wednesday, Las Vegas police said that crews pulled gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars from the back of the Cybertruck. Seven people were injured in the explosion that was caught on video.
Jeremy Schwartz is the acting special agent in charge of the FBI in Las Vegas. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force was working to determine whether the explosion was an act of terrorism.
Both men were stationed at the same military base and served in different parts of Afghanistan during the same year. The sheriff said that there was no evidence of a link at this point, and they were not prepared to rule out anything.
Turo said on Friday, “We do not believe these two individuals would have been flagged by anyone – including law enforcement.” While we wait for law enforcement to conclude their investigations, we are consulting with national security and counterterrorism experts to learn more about how we can become even better and help prevent things like this from happening again.
During the meeting, law enforcement officials showed a map of the stops at the charging stations and a camera that recorded where the truck was on January 1st. They also said that people from Tesla were coming to assist in the investigation, including possibly recovering video from the truck’s built-in cameras.
The Sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Kevin McMahill, said it was a suicide bombing. I am not giving it any other labels. Police have not yet found a possible motive or investigated the suspect’s phones or laptops.
