Person in exploded Cybertruck believed to be elite soldier
The man who rented a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas is an active-duty U.S. Special Forces soldier, officials confirmed.
Las Vegas police identified 37-year-old Matthew Alan Livelsberger as the man who rented the car and drove it from Colorado to Las Vegas.
Officials said they were fairly certain he was found dead in the car after the explosion but were waiting to confirm that with DNA evidence.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Thursday that the body in the car was burned beyond recognition and was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Seven people were injured when the vehicle, packed with fuel cans and fireworks mortars, exploded on New Year’s Day. Officials said all injuries were minor.
Police said the electric truck arrived in the city on Wednesday morning, less than two hours before the explosion. The vehicle, parked near the hotel’s glass entrance, began to smoke and then exploded.
Authorities said they have not yet determined a motive behind the incident.
“I would love to call it a suicide, and then there was an explosion immediately after,” Sheriff McMahill said at a news conference Thursday.
Investigators recovered a military identification card, a passport, two semiautomatic handguns, fireworks, an iPhone, a smartwatch and several credit cards in Lifsberg’s name from the charred vehicle, the sheriff said.
McMahill said they found two tattoos on the driver’s body that matched Lifsberg’s tattoos.
The Colorado Springs native rented the Cybertruck on Dec. 28 in Denver.
Police used multiple photos to track his drive from Denver, Colorado, to Las Vegas, Nevada. He was the only person seen driving the car.
McMahill said there were some similarities but no clear link between the suspects in the Las Vegas incident and the New Orleans truck attack that killed 14 people, both of which occurred in New Year.
Both suspects served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, but there is no record that they served in the same unit or were there at the same time. They also both served in Afghanistan in 2009, but there is no evidence that they were in the same region or unit.
McMahill said the pair also used rental company Turo to rent the vehicle involved in the incident.
“We do not believe this individual or anyone associated with him poses any further threat in Las Vegas,” he said.
Lifsberg has decades of experience in the U.S. military, serving in the Army and National Guard. He was a decorated Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant.
He was serving in Germany but was on approved leave when the incident occurred.
Lifsberg’s father told BBC news partner CBS that his son was visiting his wife and eight-month-old daughter in Colorado.
He said the last time he spoke to his son was at Christmas and everything seemed normal.
