A day after a Cybertruck exploded in the Trump Hotel valet area, law enforcement officials released more details on the progress of their investigation, including the coroner’s confirmation that the driver was a US Army soldier named Matthew Livelsberger, who died by suicide of a self-inflicted gunshot just before the explosives in the truck’s bed detonated.
“I’m comfortable calling it a suicide with a bombing that occurred immediately thereafter,” said Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. “I’m not giving it any other labels.” McMahill also noted that police haven’t investigated the suspect’s phones or laptops yet, or identified a possible motive.
Separately, the Denver Gazette reported on text messages Livelsberger sent after renting the truck on December 28th, with videos of the vehicle and boasts about its “ungodly” speed. The New York Post cited an unnamed source saying he left his home in Colorado the day after Christmas after an argument with his wife. The Independent contacted Livelsberger’s uncle, who described him to the paper as someone who “loved the Army” and “loved Trump.”
During the briefing, law enforcement officials displayed surveillance video of the truck once it arrived in Las Vegas on the morning of January 1st and a map of its eight stops at Tesla charging stations over three days. 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.
While the sheriff said investigators had received information about the charging stops from Elon Musk, they are also looking to see who else may have been charging at the same time to possibly find video captured by those vehicles.
Like the F-150 Lightning used hours earlier in an apparent act of terrorism by driving into a crowd in New Orleans, Livelsberger rented the 2024 Cybertruck via the Turo app.
Turo said on Friday, “We do not believe these two individuals would have been flagged by anyone – including law enforcement.” However, “as an immediate next step while we wait for law enforcement to conclude their investigations, we’re consulting with national security and counterterrorism experts to learn more about how we can get even better and play our part in helping prevent anything like this from happening ever again,” writes CEO Andre Haddad.
It has also been reported that both men spent time at the same military base and served in different areas of Afghanistan in 2009. However, the sheriff said that while they’re not prepared to “rule in or rule out anything at this point,” there’s no evidence at this time of a connection between them or a link between the incidents.
The truck was transported to the department’s fleet services area for further inspection, and the investigators have reported finding the subject’s iPhone, identification, and two firearms that had been purchased two days earlier. The explosive components found inside the truck consisted of consumer-grade fireworks, mortars, and aerial shells, as well as fuel enhancers and the kinds of explosive targets that can be purchased at sporting goods stores, according to Kenneth Cooper, the ATF assistant special agent in charge.
