Mystery continues to shroud Las Vegas Cybertruck bomber’s motives, authorities say | Global News Avenue

Matthew Livelsberger, the decorated Army Special Forces sergeant major who has an 8-month-old daughter at home, also has a new mission involving drones that friends say makes him Very excited. He posted glowing reviews on Yelp, praising tattoo parlors in his hometown of Colorado Springs and touting the benefits of floating spas. He told CBS News that when his father last spoke to him on Christmas Day, everything seemed normal.

Roger Levisburg said he “loved the military and loved America.”

Matthew Livelsberger, 37, is on leave at his station in Germany and his father expects him to return. He said nothing seemed wrong about his son.

But a few days later, Matthew Livelsberger rent A Tesla Cybertruck, buy two guns, drive 1,000 miles from Denver to Las Vegas, then put yourself in the center of one of them two New Year’s Day shock attack. For now at least, what led him here remains a frustrating mystery to those who knew him and those investigating the attack.

“Obviously, we always look at incidents like this to determine what the motive was,” said Spencer Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas Division. “We know this is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, so understanding exactly what the motive was remains our top priority.”

Find out what motivated Lifsberg Set off a bunch of fireworks The gas tank in front of the Trump Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip isn’t just a priority for law enforcement. It’s also a question that has left his family and friends with heavy hearts and longing for answers.

Lifsberg’s history provides few direct clues.

He was a football star at Bucyrus High School in Ohio and enlisted in the Army out of high school through a program called 18xray, which allows applicants to receive Special Forces training without military experience.

He traveled to Afghanistan multiple times and even started a charity drive to deliver toys to children there.

In 2007, he helped house a former Afghan translator who had worked with him in Afghanistan. CBS News spoke with the translator, who said Lifsberg was very friendly to him and his family and often ate at their home, even though it had been many years.

Lifsberg divorced his first wife and remarried, and has an 8-month-old child with his second wife. She continued to live in Colorado Springs while he commuted to Germany.

Those who served with Lifsberger described him as a kind man who went above and beyond. Some described him as an “idealist” and a true hero who continued to serve his country, including five tours in Afghanistan; he said Lifsberger had an “extraordinary” military career.

“The American people still don’t understand quantifying the quality of service — someone might say they went to Afghanistan, but what did they actually do?” the waiter said. In Lifsberg’s case, he said, “among the most fringe U.S.-backed special operations forces, they operate with trust, little direction, and constantly risk harm to achieve this goal.”

The U.S. Army Special Forces, known as the Green Berets, are a small but elite special operations force within the U.S. military mix, with roots dating back to the Cold War. Known as Operations Detachment Alpha, Green Beret teams are trained to perform specialized missions ranging from counterinsurgency and unconventional warfare to combat raids and special reconnaissance missions. “De Oppresso Liber” is their Latin motto: “Free the oppressed.”

The tight-knit Green Beret community is in trouble after the Cybertruck bombing. Many former Green Berets spoke to CBS News to express their dismay at Lifsberg’s actions.

Many spoke of the honors he received as a soldier and how he was an “upstanding man.” Others were shocked by the news and didn’t believe he was involved – perhaps someone had stolen Lifsberg’s identity, they speculated. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed Thursday Lifsberger identified as driver Tesla Cybertruck. The Clark County Coroner’s Office ruled his death a suicide. Authorities said he shot himself before a vehicle exploded at the Trump International Hotel and a handgun was found at his feet.

Lifsberg previously served in Tajikistan and received a U.S. Department of State Meritorious Service Award for his service at the embassy, ​​according to his LinkedIn profile. Now, only questions remain about what seemed like a great resume.

Law enforcement officials said Thursday those answers may yet come with the help of those who knew Lifsburg best.

“We have to focus on what we know and what we don’t know,” the FBI’s Evans said at a news conference Thursday. “We know there was an explosion and there’s certainly cause for concern. It’s not lost on us that it was in front of Trump Tower and it was a Tesla car, but we have no information at this time that specifically tells us or suggests that. “Because of this particular ideology, or whatever reasoning is behind it, that’s the purpose of the investigation that we’re doing, is to find out what exactly happened, why and how.”