The man who rented the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas was an active-duty U.S. Special Forces soldier who shot himself before the explosion, officials said.
Las Vegas police identified Matthew Allen Livesberger, 37, as the man who rented the vehicle and drove it from Colorado to Las Vegas.
Officials said they were waiting to fully confirm DNA evidence that the body in the truck was Livelsberger’s.
The body in the vehicle was burned beyond recognition and was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Thursday.
Seven people were injured when a vehicle carrying fuel cans and firecracker mortars exploded on New Year’s Day. Officials said all injuries were minor.
The Cybertruck arrived in the city Wednesday morning, less than two hours before the explosion, police said. A car parked near the hotel’s front glass entrance began smoking and then exploded.
Las Vegas authorities said the Cybertruck helped contain the explosion and sent it vertically rather than outward. The glass doors and windows of a nearby hotel were not broken by the explosion.
Authorities said they have not yet determined the motive behind the incident.
“It’s safe to say it was a suicide due to the bombing that occurred immediately afterwards,” Sheriff McMahill said at a press conference Thursday.
The sheriff said investigators recovered military identification cards, passports, two semi-automatic handguns, fireworks, an iPhone, a smartwatch and several credit cards in Livelsberger’s name from the burned vehicle.
McMahill said two tattoos matching Livelsberger’s were found on the driver’s body.
The Colorado Springs native rented a Cybertruck in Denver on Dec. 28.
Police were able to track his movements using several photos while driving from Denver, Colorado to Las Vegas, Nevada. He was the only person seen driving the vehicle.
McMahill said there were some similarities between the suspects in the Las Vegas incident and the New Orleans truck attack that killed 14 people, but there was no clear link. Both incidents occurred on New Year’s Day.
Both suspects served at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, but there is no record of them serving in the same unit or being there at the same time. Both men served in Afghanistan in 2009, but there is no evidence they were in the same area or unit.
Mr McMahill said both men used rental company Turo for the vehicles involved in the accident.
“We do not believe there are any further threats from this subject or anyone associated with him here in Las Vegas,” he said.
Mr. Livelsberger has decades of experience serving in the U.S. military, including service in the U.S. Army and National Guard. He was a decorated Special Forces intelligence sergeant.
He was serving in Germany but was on approved leave at the time of the incident.
Livelsberger’s father told the BBC’s news partner CBS that his son was in Colorado to visit his wife and 8-month-old daughter.
He last spoke to his son around Christmas and said everything seemed normal.
