2 days Ago By BBC
The explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning was unrelated to an attack that occurred in Louisiana on the same day, police said on Friday. Matthew Livelsberger, an active US army member who was found deceased inside the vehicle, has been confirmed as the sole suspect in the Las Vegas explosion. Police said he had no connection to Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who drove a rented pick-up truck through a busy street in New Orleans, killing 14 and injuring dozens others.
Both men had served in the army and had rented the vehicles they used on the same mobile application, but FBI agents said any similarities are purely coincidental. "There is no evidence that these two events are connected," Las Vegas FBI agent Spencer Evans told reporters on Friday as officials laid out new information on the incident. Data uncovered from Mr Livelsberger's phone, including a series of notes he appeared to have written, suggest that the 37-year-old suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) related to his time in combat, Las Vegas police said.
They added that it appeared Mr Livelsberger had been grappling with family and other personal issues, and that he held no particular animosity towards President-elect Donald Trump. His body was found inside the charred Tesla, which exploded from fireworks that Mr Livelsberger had purchased on his way to Las Vegas from Colorado. Mr Livelsberger's body was burned beyond recognition, police said, but his identity has been confirmed via a DNA sample that authorities obtained from a family member.
Police said he also appeared to have suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Mr Evans called it "a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily-decorated combat veteran who was struggling with PTSD and other issues". In the digital notes recovered by police, Livelsberger also mentioned political grievances.
He addressed his fellow army officers, writing: "It is time to wake up. We are being led by weak and feckless leadership who only work to enrich themselves." In another note, police said he wrote: "This is not a terrorist attack, this is a wake up call.
Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence," adding, "I need to cleanse my mind of the brothers I lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took." Mr Livelsberger was a decorated special forces intelligence sergeant who was serving in Germany, but was on approved leave at the time of the incident. His father told BBC's US partner CBS News that his son was in Colorado to see his wife and eight-month-old daughter.
He said he last spoke to his son at Christmas and that everything seemed normal. The Daily Beast reported that Mr Livelsberger was a "big" supporter of Trump. A senior law enforcement official who spoke with Mr Livelsberger's family told the outlet that he voted for Trump in November's election.
Police have been able to track his movements in the days leading up to the incident thanks to surveillance cameras and other data obtained from the Tesla vehicle itself. They said that Mr Livelsberger had rented the Tesla Cybertruck from a mobile application called Turo in Colorado on 28 December, and had driven it more than 800 miles to Las Vegas. He also legally purchased two firearms in that period, which were recovered inside the car.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill with the Las Vegas Police Department said authorities have not determined why MR Livelsberger chose that location for the explosion, but added that evidence suggests it was one of multiple locations he had considered. Seven people suffered minor injuries from the blast. All have since been released from hospital, Sheriff McMahill said.
He added that the investigation remains ongoing, and that police "are barely scratching the surface" of data they have recovered from the man's devices..
