Soldier shot self in head before Cybertruck exploded outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, officials say
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The highly decorated Army soldier inside a Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks that exploded outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas shot himself in the head just before detonation, authorities said Thursday.
The explosion caused minor injuries to seven people but virtually no damage to the hotel. Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret, likely planned a more damaging attack but the steel-sided vehicle absorbed much of the force from the crudely built explosive.
Damage from the blast was mostly limited to the interior of the truck because the explosion “vented out and up” and didn’t hit the Trump hotel doors just a few feet away, the sheriff said.
“The level of sophistication is not what we would expect from an individual with this type of military experience,” said Kenny Cooper, a special agent in charge for the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Authorities are still working to determine a motive.
“It’s not lost on us that it’s in front of the Trump building, that it’s a Tesla vehicle, but we don’t have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology,” said Spencer Evans, the Las Vegas FBI’s special agent in charge.
Livelsberger had recently returned from an overseas assignment in Germany and was on approved leave when he died, according to a U.S. official.
A law enforcement official said investigators learned through interviews that he may have gotten into a fight with his wife about relationship issues shortly before he rented the Tesla and bought the guns. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Among the charred items found inside the truck were a handgun at Livelsberger’s feet, another firearm, a number of fireworks, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch, McMahill said. Authorities said both guns were purchased legally.
Investigators identified the vehicle’s driver — who was burned beyond recognition — as Livelsberger, of Colorado Springs, on Thursday. The cause of death was suicide by gunshot, according to the Clark County coroner.
Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners. He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the Army said.
He was awarded a total of five Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valor.
McMahill said Livelsberger rented the Tesla electric vehicle in Denver on Saturday and the sheriff displayed a map showing that it was charged in the Colorado town of Monument near Colorado Springs on Monday. On New Year’s Eve, it was charged in Trinidad, Colorado, and three towns in New Mexico along the Interstate 40 corridor.
Then on Wednesday, the day of the explosion, it was charged in three Arizona towns before video showed it on the Las Vegas Strip about 7:30 a.m.
McMahill said investigators obtained charging station photos showing Livelsberger “was the individual that was driving this vehicle” and was alone.
“We’re not aware of any other subjects involved in this particular case,” the sheriff said.
Authorities searched a townhouse in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday as part of the investigation. Neighbors said the man who lived there had a wife and a baby and did not give any sign of posing a danger to anyone.
Cindy Helwig, who lives diagonally across a narrow street separating the homes, said she last saw the man she knew as Matthew about two weeks ago when he asked her if she had a tool he needed to fix the SUV he was working on.
“He was a normal guy,” said Helwig, who said she last saw his wife and baby earlier this week. Helwig noted that people in the townhome on a hill with views of the mountains don’t interact much except for when they’re getting the mail or walking their dogs.
The explosion of the truck, packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters, came hours after 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police. That crash was being investigated as a terrorist attack. The FBI said Thursday that they believe Jabbar acted alone, reversing its position from a day earlier that he likely worked with others.
Both Livelsberger and Jabbar spent time at the base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a massive Army base in North Carolina that is home to multiple Army special operations units. However, one of the officials who spoke to the AP said there is no overlap in their assignments at the base, now called Fort Liberty.
Chris Raia, FBI deputy assistant director, said Thursday that officials have found “no definitive link” between the New Orleans attack and the truck explosion in Las Vegas.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday afternoon on X that “we have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself.”
Musk has recently become a member of President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk was in Las Vegas early Wednesday. Both had attended Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at his South Florida estate.
Musk spent an estimated $250 million during the presidential campaign to support the former president. He was at Trump’s resort on election night and has been a frequent guest there. Trump has named Musk, the world’s richest man, to co-lead a new effort to find ways to cut the government’s size and spending.
Copp, Richer and Long contributed from Washington. Contributing were Associated Press writers Rio Yamat and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas; Colleen Slevin in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.
Man who died in Cybertruck explosion outside Las Vegas Trump hotel ID'd as Army special ops soldier
Authorities said Thursday that their investigation into an explosion that rattled the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas and killed one person had narrowed in on a decorated U.S. Army soldier, but that key details including a motive for the incident remained elusive.
At a news conference, officials said that identification belonging to the soldier, Matthew Alan Livelsberger, was found at the scene, where a Tesla Cybertruck burst into flames after an improvised explosive was detonated in the truck's bed. Livelsberger had rented the Cybertruck through the online platform Turo.
Before the news conference, two senior law enforcement officials told NBC News that it was Livelsberger who had died.
Clark County/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill acknowledged speculation on social media surrounding Livelsberger, 37, a master sergeant in the U.S. Army’s elite special forces unit and resident of Colorado Springs, but said there was no immediate indication that he was working as part of a larger operation.
“We don’t believe there’s any further threat or anyone associated with him in Las Vegas,” McMahill told reporters.
Authorities said a military ID, a passport and credit cards found at the scene were in Livelsberger's name, but that the body in the Cybertruck was “burned beyond recognition.” Investigators are still awaiting DNA or medical record confirmation of the body’s identity, but had other evidence indicating Livelsberger had died, including tattoos on the body’s stomach and arms. Authorities also recovered two handguns, including a .50-caliber Desert Eagle and a semiautomatic pistol.
The body recovered from the Cybertruck sustained an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, McMahill said, adding that one of the weapons was found at the body's feet.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the guns were traced back to Livelsberger, who lawfully purchased them on Dec. 30. ATF officials said they are still investigating the explosive device and sifting through debris, but the components appear to include consumer-grade fireworks, mortars and aerial shells.
The incident was being investigated as a possible terrorist attack, three senior law enforcement members said Wednesday.
Spencer Evans, a special agent in charge of the FBI's Las Vegas field office, said Thursday that officials have been vetting tips, one of which was "alluding to this person's experiences related to his time in the military."
An Army spokesperson said Livelsberger was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and on approved leave from his base in Germany. He first entered the Army in 2006, re-entered active duty in December 2012 and was a Green Beret candidate after serving in the National Guard and the Army Reserve.
Earlier Thursday, federal law enforcement agents began searching a residence in Colorado Springs connected with the case and were expected to be on-site for several hours, the agency said in a statement.
“This activity is related to the explosion in Las Vegas,” the FBI said on X, declining to provide further details.
The blast in Las Vegas came just hours after a driver plowed a pickup truck into New Year's Eve revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 14 and injuring more than 30 others before being shot dead by police. A flag of the Islamic State terrorist group was found in the back of the pickup truck.
The driver in New Orleans was identified Wednesday as a U.S. Army veteran from Texas, and officials said they believe he acted alone.
Livelsberger's long military career included deployments to the Republic of Congo in 2014, Ukraine in 2016, Tajikistan in 2016 and Afghanistan in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
“The military gave him several honors, including multiple Bronze Star medals, at least one with valor, meaning he saw combat and was considered to have served with valor or individual merit.”
Officials said Wednesday that the pickup truck and the Tesla in the Las Vegas explosion were rented from the same company, Turo.
The company said in a statement it is assisting investigators.
“We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat,” the statement said.
Federal officials also said Thursday they had not found any association between the two events.
"At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas," Chris Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, told reporters during a news conference updating on the investigation into the New Orleans attack.
Still, the fact that the incidents in New Orleans and Las Vegas came just hours apart and both appeared to involve military members with somewhat similar backgrounds has been noted by officials.
"If these turn out to be similarities, very strange similarities to have," McMahill said.
Authorities said Livelsberger rented the Tesla in Denver three days after Christmas and charged the electric vehicle near Colorado Springs on Monday. He charged it again in towns along Interstate 40 in New Mexico and Arizona before arriving in Las Vegas early Wednesday.
The Cybertruck ignited within 17 seconds of arriving at the valet at the Trump International Hotel, McMahill said. The explosion was reported at about 8:40 a.m. local time; seven bystanders were hurt, but their injuries were considered minor.
In videos circulating online, sirens can be heard in the Trump International Hotel lobby as the vehicle just outside the doors is engulfed in flames. A person on social media said they were near the front door when the vehicle exploded and they were forced to leave their luggage by the door.
Other posts showed smoke filling the air around the building and first responders racing to the scene.
McMahill said Tesla CEO Elon Musk helped to track the route of the vehicle and provided video showing the Cybertruck at Tesla charging stations.
Musk, who is also a part of President-elect Donald Trump's inner circle, said on X that the vehicle itself did not cause the explosion.
"We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself," Musk wrote. "All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion."
Trump's son Eric Trump thanked local law enforcement for their "swift response."
"The safety and well-being of our guests and staff remain our top priority," Eric Trump said in a statement.
Driver of Tesla Cybertruck that exploded at Trump hotel in Las Vegas was an active-duty Army Green Beret, source says
The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday has been identified as Matthew Alan Livelsberger, an active-duty US Army Green Beret, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.
Livelsberger was an Army Special Forces operations master sergeant, a senior enlisted rank, according to four US officials. He was on active duty in Germany with the 10th Special Forces Group but was on leave at the time of the incident, three officials said.
The US Army said Thursday in a statement Livelsberger was on leave at the time of his death, though did not specifically say he died in the Vegas explosion. The US Special Forces, commonly known as the “Green Berets,” bill themselves as an elite fighting force specializing in guerilla warfare and unconventional tactics abroad.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Thursday at a news conference the driver shot himself in the head prior to the blast that injured seven people outside the Trump hotel. While McMahill and others officials only referred to the driver as the “subject” and “person of interest,” they showed a photo of Livelsberger and gave his name at the news conference.
McMahill said authorities are not identifying Livelsberger as the person found inside the Cybertruck because the body was burned beyond recognition.
“I will not come back until I have the confirmation through DNA or medical records that this is indeed, in fact, the subject inside of the vehicle,” McMahill said.
McMahill said authorities “have confidence that this is in fact the same person” because the body in the vehicle had two tattoos, on the stomach and arm, which Livelsberger also had. Livelsberger’s wife identified the tattoos, a law enforcement official told CNN.
Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas Division, said the driver’s motive remains unclear and authorities are not aware of any connection “to any terrorist organizations around the world.”
The explosion bore some general similarities to the vehicle attack in New Orleans earlier Wednesday, as both involved a symbolic target on New Year’s Day, a truck rented through the website Turo and a suspect with a military background. Authorities said they are investigating possible links between the two attacks but repeatedly called the Vegas explosion an “isolated incident.”
“At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas,” FBI deputy assistant director Christopher Raia said Thursday.
The FBI in Denver, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Colorado Springs Police Department are conducting “law enforcement activity” at a home in Colorado Springs related to the explosion, the FBI said.
The Cybertruck was rented on December 28 in Denver and made stops at several Tesla charging stations in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada, before entering Las Vegas in the early morning of New Year’s Day, McMahill said.
The truck was first spotted in the city at 7:29 a.m., drove up and down Las Vegas Boulevard and later arrived at the Trump Hotel, where a combination of fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel in the bed of the vehicle were detonated by a device controlled by the driver, police said.
A CCTV video shown by the police captured the moment the truck exploded. In related social media footage, the vehicle is engulfed in smoke while being doused with water.
During a news conference, police shared footage revealing scorched gasoline containers and firework mortars found among the wreckage. Authorities are still working on accessing the footage from the cameras inside the Cybertruck, which likely captured video during the incident, McMahill said.
Guests who were staying at Trump International Hotel at the time of the explosion said the windows shook, even more than 40 floors up. The guests, who did not want to be publicly identified, said they saw smoke billowing in the stairwells and coming out of the elevator doors. Elevator service was shut down, and they had to stay on their floor.
On Thursday, damage from the explosion was visible in the Trump hotel’s valet area. Parts of the ceiling had smoke damage, and the gold awning had a hole several feet wide.
The FBI in Denver, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Colorado Springs Police Department were conducting “law enforcement activity” Thursday at a home in Colorado Springs related to the explosion, the FBI said.
The explosion closely followed a deadly attack in New Orleans, where a driver with a US military background crashed a rented pickup truck into a crowd celebrating New Year’s on Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning, killing 14 people.
The man, who was killed in a firefight with police after the attack, was identified as an Army veteran from Texas and had an ISIS flag in his vehicle. He said in videos made before the attack that he had joined the terror group, authorities said.
Turo, which operates an online platform for car owners to lease their vehicles, reported that its service was used to rent vehicles involved in the tragic events in New Orleans and Las Vegas and it is cooperating with the authorities.
“We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat,” a Turo spokesperson told CNN.
Both men were stationed in North Carolina’s Fort Liberty, previously known as Fort Bragg, but there is no record they served in the same unit or during the same years, McMahill said Thursday. The men also served in Afghanistan in 2009 but McMahill said there were not in the same province or in the same unit.
“If these turn out to be simply similarities, very strange similarities to have, and so we’re not prepared to rule in or rule out anything at this point,” McMahill said. “We haven’t even gotten into the phones or the computers which are usually very, very instructive and informative to us as we investigate.”
The FBI has located phones and laptops, and residences are being searched in relation to both the Las Vegas and New Orleans incidents, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. There’s no evidence that anyone else was involved in orchestrating the Cybertruck incident, Mayorkas said.
Livelsberger was a member of the 10th Special Forces Group, which has members deployed to Germany where they work with the US military’s Africa Command. Special Forces units have been involved in multiple counterterrorism missions in Africa fighting local groups with connections to ISIS and al Qaeda. He had been deployed to Germany and returned to the US on leave around Christmastime, a defense official told CNN.
A LinkedIn page under the name of “Matt Livelsberger” shows a photograph of a special forces operator wearing a helmet, goggles and snow camouflage straddling a snowmobile with a scoped semi-automatic rifle. It lists Livelsberger’s experience as 19 years in the Army Special Forces with a specialization in “intelligence and operations.” Law enforcement officials confirmed to CNN they believed the page belonged to Livelsberger.
The explosion could have been significantly worse if not for the vehicle’s body construction, which helped contain the blast, police said.
McMahill said the Cybertruck’s body construction significantly reduced damage in the hotel valet area, as most of the blast was directed upward, leaving the building’s front glass unbroken during the explosion.
“The fact that this was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that occurred inside of the valet because it had most of the blast. Up through the truck and out,” he said. “You’ll see that the front glass doors at the Trump hotel were not even broken by that blast which they were parked directly in front of.”
“I have to thank Elon Musk specifically,” McMahill added, noting that Tesla Motors’ CEO gave authorities “quite a bit of additional information,” including directly sending them video from its charging stations to help with their efforts to track the driver.
”We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself,” Musk said in a post on X.
“All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” Musk added, referring to the automaker’s system that collects and transmits data about a vehicle’s performance and status in real time and can monitor mileage and track the distance traveled, among other features.
Officials also noted the implications of the Tesla vehicle and the hotel’s namesake.
“It’s a Tesla truck, and we know that Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump, and it’s the Trump tower,” McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said Wednesday. “So, there’s obviously things to be concerned about there, and that’s something we continue to look at.”
Musk has emerged as a key player in Trump’s orbit during the transition to a second White House term. The president-elect has tapped the tech magnate, along with former Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy, to oversee a new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, aimed at cutting government spending.
Update: An earlier version of this story included the attacker in the number of people killed in New Orleans. At least 14 people were killed. The attacker is also dead.
CNN’s Chelsea Bailey, Brynn Gingras, Lauren Mascarenhas, Natasha Chen, Paul P. Murphy and Maureen Chowdhury contributed to this report.
Police probe if blast at Trump hotel is linked to New Orleans attack
Police in the US are investigating whether an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas is linked to the deadly car-ramming attack in New Orleans.
The driver of a Tesla Cybertruck was killed and seven other people were injured in Las Vegas after the vehicle - filled with fuel canisters and firework mortars - exploded. Officials said all injuries were minor.
In the New Orleans attack, a 42-year-old US citizen is believed to have driven a pick-up truck into a crowd on a busy street, killing 14 people and injuring 35, before being shot dead by police.
President Joe Biden said investigators were looking into whether the two incidents were linked, but "thus far, there is nothing to report".
More on the New Orleans attack
- LIVE: Several people involved in IS-inspired attack
- The victims: Aspiring nurse and ex-college football player among the dead
- The attacker: What we know about Shamsud-Din Jabbar
- Watch: How day of deadly attack unfolded
The Cybertruck was rented in Colorado and arrived in the city on Wednesday morning, less than two hours before the detonation, police said. Parked in front of the hotel near a glass entrance, the vehicle started to smoke, then exploded.
The vehicle was rented to Matthew Alan Livelsberger, an active duty US Army service member. Officials are working to verify that he was the driver found dead in the truck. The driver also had a gunshot wound to the head, which police said was self-inflicted.
Livelsberger had been serving in Germany but was on leave in Colorado at the time of the incident, CBS reported.
Two relatives of Livelsberger confirmed to CBS he had rented the Cybertruck but were unaware of his involvement in the incident.
One relative said Livelsberger's wife had not heard from him in several days.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill showed reporters dramatic footage of the explosion and photos of the aftermath, including several fuel canisters along with large fireworks in the truck bed.
Footage showed the truck parked directly in front of the entrance of the hotel. The truck sits idle for several seconds before exploding - bursts of multi-coloured fireworks shooting in multiple directions.
Another video showed investigators using a black fire-retardant tarp to put out the blaze and the charred remains of the truck bed. An array of gas and fuel canisters were left behind along with the remnants of more than a dozen firework mortars.
The fire occurred around 08:40 PT (15:40 GMT), just hours after a man drove a truck with an Islamic State (IS) group flag into the crowd in New Orleans. Officials said 15 people died in that attack, including the perpetrator, and at least 39 others were injured.
Mr McMahill of the Las Vegas Police Department said the authorities were examining whether the incident could be connected to the one in New Orleans, where improvised explosive devices were found near the scene.
He said they were also investigating whether it might be linked to President-Elect Donald Trump, who owns the hotel, or Elon Musk, who owns Tesla.
"Obviously, a Cybertruck, the Trump Hotel, there's lots of questions that we have to answer as we move forward," he said.
The FBI also said the agency was looking into whether the incident might be an act of terrorism, but the authorities said they currently had not confirmed the identity of the driver, who died in the vehicle. Authorities also said thus far, they had found no evidence that this incident was related to IS.
In an update on Thursday on the New Orleans attack, the FBI said that there is "no definitive link" at this point between the two incidents, but officers cautioned that it is still "very early" in the investigation.
A Turo spokesperson said in a statement that the company was working with authorities in Las Vegas and New Orleans to help with the investigation. The spokesperson noted both renters appeared to not have a criminal background that would have "identified them as a security threat".
"We are heartbroken by the violence perpetrated in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and our prayers are with the victims and families," the statement reads.
Mr McMahill said there was no longer a threat to the Las Vegas community.
The hotel is owned in part by President-elect Donald Trump's company. In a post on X, Trump's son, Eric Trump, said a "reported electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochère of Trump Las Vegas".
"The safety and well-being of our guests and staff remain our top priority. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Las Vegas Fire Department and local law enforcement for their swift response and professionalism," he said.
Stephen Ferlando told the Washington Post that he had witnessed the incident from his hotel room on the 53rd floor of the Trump Tower. He told the outlet there was "definitely an explosion" and that the windows had begun to shake.
The Trump Hotel spans 64 floors with around 1,300 suites, according to its website.
Trump recently named Musk to co-lead a presidential advisory commission, the Department of Government Efficiency, after the two became close during Trump's campaign.
Investigation into Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas shows driver shot himself before the blast, officials say
Authorities investigating the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day said Thursday that evidence shows the driver shot himself in the head before the explosion.
Police also identified Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old active duty member of the Army Special Forces, as the driver of the Cybertruck. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said the county coroner had determined he died by suicide.
The Cybertruck had been rented in Denver by Livelsberger, the police department's Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a briefing earlier Thursday.
Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI's office in Las Vegas, said during the briefing that authorities weren't tracking any additional subjects in the investigation.
Livelsberger was the only person in the vehicle when it went up in flames. He is also the only person known by police to have been inside the 2024 model Cybertruck since it was rented, according to the sheriff. The condition of the body prevented law enforcement from making a definitive identification until they received dental records and DNA test results.
"His body is burnt beyond recognition," McMahill said. Investigators said Livelsberger's military ID, passport and credit cards were found in the vehicle, along with several firearms.
"Further complicating this identification of this individual, we also discovered through the coroner's office that the individual had sustained a gunshot wound to the head prior to the detonation of the vehicle," the sheriff continued. McMahill said one of the handguns discovered inside the vehicle after it exploded was found at the driver's feet.
The explosion early Wednesday morning is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism, according to law enforcement, but investigators do not believe there are any lingering threats to the community, FBI agent Jeremy Schwartz said at a news conference Wednesday evening.
Seven others suffered minor injuries from the explosion.
Law enforcement sources said Livelsberger was stationed in Germany but was on leave in Colorado when the blast occurred. Two of Livelsberger's relatives told CBS News they were unaware of his involvement in the incident but confirmed he had rented a Cybertruck. One relative said his wife had not heard from him in several days.
Federal agents probing the explosion have been at Livelsberger's townhome in Colorado Springs since Wednesday night, CBS Colorado reported. No one has been evacuated during the investigation there.
The Cybertruck was rented in Colorado, McMahill said. Investigators were able to trace its route from Denver to Las Vegas based on its stops at charging stations, and surveillance video shows the vehicle driving through the Las Vegas Strip shortly before the blast.
The Cybertruck pulled up to the glass entrance of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas a little after 7:30 a.m., and exploded about 15 seconds later.
The sheriff told reporters that gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars were discovered in the back of the truck, although it was unclear exactly how the explosives were ignited.
McMahill called the explosion "an isolated incident" and said there was no indication it was connected to ISIS. The blast came just hours after a man intentionally drove a pickup truck flying a black ISIS flag into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people before he was fatally shot by police.
The Las Vegas sheriff reiterated Thursday that the two incidents were unrelated, although he acknowledged some similarities between the cases and subjects. The drivers in both the Cybertruck explosion and the New Orleans rampage had rented their respective vehicles using the company Turo, and both were members of the U.S. military. Each served in Afghanistan in 2009 and at some point were stationed at the military base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Authorities are still investigating, but McMahill said there was no evidence indicating the men served in the same units or locations in Afghanistan, or served at Fort Bragg during the same years.
Alex Sundby contributed to this report.
Deadly Tesla Cybertruck blast outside Trump hotel in Las Vegas was intentional, officials say
A Tesla Cybertruck exploded and burst into flames Wednesday morning just outside the entrance of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, killing a person inside the vehicle and injuring several others standing nearby, local officials said.
The suspicious blast is being investigated as a possible terrorist attack, three senior law enforcement members briefed on the matter told NBC News. A motive has yet to be established.
The blast came hours after a driver in a rented pickup truck who was flying an ISIS flag plowed into New Year's Eve revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 15 and injuring more than 30 others before he was shot dead by police.
That pickup truck and the Tesla in the Las Vegas explosion were rented from the same company, Turo, said Clark County/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill.
"I don't know," McMahill said when asked at a news conference whether the two incidents are connected. "But we are investigating whether there is any connectivity."
Turo, in a statement, said the company is actively aiding investigators.
"We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat," the company said.
McMahill said officials know the Tesla was rented in Colorado but declined to divulge the name of the person who died in the inferno.
"We do know who rented this truck," he said, adding they have found no link to ISIS or any other terrorist organization.
“We believe this is an isolated incident," added Jeremy Schwartz, the FBI’s acting special agent in charge of the investigation.
McMahill said officials were able to track the route the Tesla took to Las Vegas with the help of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who provided video of the Cybertruck at Tesla charging stations and by having the truck unlocked after it auto-locked in the explosion.
The Tesla arrived at 7:30 a.m. in Las Vegas and exploded an hour later, about 15 seconds after it got to the hotel, the sheriff said.
McMahill showed video of the explosion at an evening news conference. "So the individual who was in the truck is obviously deceased," he said.
Earlier, Musk, who is also a top Trump adviser, insisted on X that the explosion had nothing to do with the vehicle.
“We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself,” Musk declared. “All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
McMahill confirmed there were gasoline cannisters and large fireworks mortars in the back of the truck.
"I don’t know how they were ignited," the sheriff said. "We haven’t been able to process the vehicle yet.”
McMahill also reiterated that "there does not appear to be any further threat to our community now."
Meanwhile, in New York City, extra police officers were assigned to Trump Tower as a precaution and the security perimeter was expanded to keep the public and traffic further away from the building, an NYPD spokesperson said.
Security at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago has also been boosted, police there confirmed.
The explosion outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas was reported about 8:40 a.m. local time, police said.
"We were told that a 2024 Cybertruck pulled up to the front of the hotel, and, in fact, I can tell you it pulled right up to the glass entrance doors of the hotel," McMahill said at an earlier press conference. "We saw smoke start showing from the vehicle, and then an explosion from the truck occurs."
Clark County Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Touchstone said that as first responders began to extinguish the fire, they "realized at the same time that there were multiple persons with injuries located around the vehicle."
Of the seven people injured, Touchstone said, two were taken to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. But the injuries of all seven people are considered minor, he said.
In videos circulating online, sirens can be heard in the Trump International Hotel lobby as the vehicle just outside the doors is engulfed in flames. A person on social media said they were near the front door when the vehicle exploded and forced to leave their luggage by the door.
The FBI's Las Vegas office said in a statement that it “has personnel on scene to offer assistance to our local partners, who handled the initial response.”
Trump International Hotel was evacuated, and guests have been moved to Resorts World Las Vegas, officials said at the news conference.
In a statement that President-elect Donald Trump's son Eric Trump also shared on X, the Trump Organization acknowledged that “a reported electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochère of Trump Las Vegas.”
A porte cochère is a covered entrance large enough for vehicles to drive through.
“The safety and well-being of our guests and staff remain our top priority. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Las Vegas Fire Department and local law enforcement for their swift response and professionalism,” the statement read.
Trump International Hotel Las Vegas is owned by the Trump Organization and American businessman Phil Ruffin.
In videos of the lobby, loud blasts can be heard as the fire grows larger just beyond the entrance to the hotel, which is embossed with the letter "T" for Trump.
Mary Lescano Paguada, 43, who was on vacation in Las Vegas from San Antonio to celebrate the new year at the hotel, said she heard an explosion early Wedenesday.
Initially, she did not worry until she started seeing law enforcement officers responding.
Paguada said that once she and her husband reached the lobby, they heard screaming and were told by hotel staff to get out and "don't breathe the smoke. Don't stay."
She said they were not allowed to return to their rooms.
Social media posts showed smoke filling the air around the building. Other videos taken from nearby hotels show first responders appearing to race to the scene.
Trump has tapped Musk to co-lead an advisory council, the Department of Government Efficiency, during his second administration, which aims to slash federal regulations and government spending. Musk, who is the world’s richest person, contributed $277 million to back Trump’s campaign and other GOP candidates, according to campaign finance records.
Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside Trump Hotel in Las Vegas investigated as possible act of terrorism
A Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas early Wednesday, killing one person, in an incident that is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism, according to law enforcement.
Investigators do not believe there's "any other danger to the community right now," FBI agent Jeremy Schwartz said at a news conference Wednesday evening.
The sole person inside the vehicle died, and seven people suffered minor injuries, Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said. He called the explosion "an isolated incident" and said there is no indication that it was linked to ISIS.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the Cybertruck was rented to Matthew Alan Livelsberger, 37, an active duty U.S. Army Special Forces intelligence sergeant, who was serving in Germany but was on leave in Colorado at the time of the incident.
Las Vegas Police said the Clark County Coroner confirmed Thursday that Livelsberger had been identified as the driver of the vehicle in the explosion. The cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the coroner's office said.
At a briefing earlier Thursday, the FBI said their investigation determined the driver had shot himself in the head before the vehicle detonated, and a gun was found at his feet.
They said they considered Livelsberger the subject of the investigation, but needed a dental or DNA match for identification since the body was burned beyond recognition. They said his military ID, passport and credit cards were found in the vehicle, along with several firearms.
"I'm comfortable calling it a suicide," McMahill said at the briefing.
CBS News spoke to two relatives of Livelsberger who were unaware of any involvement in the incident, but who confirmed he had rented a Cybertruck. One relative told CBS News that Livelsberger's wife had not heard from him in several days.
Federal agents have been at his townhome in Colorado Springs since Wednesday evening and said the activity is related to the explosion in Las Vegas, CBS Colorado reported. No one has been evacuated during the investigation there.
According to CBS News' conversations with his father, Livelsberger was based at Fort Carson but had been serving in Germany. His father said he works with drones. He attended Bucyrus High School in Ohio and enlisted in the Army in 2006. His father said they last spoke on Christmas Day and described everything as normal, emphasizing that Matthew was a devoted father.
Law enforcement officials said Thursday there were no other subjects of the investigation at this time.
Schwartz also noted, "We do not believe that there's a bunch of folks out there supporting this or helping this."
A short time after the Cybertruck, a 2024 model that had been rented in Colorado, pulled up to the hotel's glass entrance doors, smoke began emerging from the vehicle, and then a large explosion occurred.
Several videos posted on social media showed the blast and the Cybertruck engulfed in flames.
McMahill said gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars were found in the back of the vehicle after the explosion, which occurred about 15 seconds after the vehicle pulled in front of the building. It's still unclear how the explosives were ignited, he said.
The sheriff said the Cybertruck arrived in Las Vegas at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning and drove through the Strip before approaching the hotel.
Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley said police and city marshals "will remain on extra alert," and told people to expect "a significant officer presence on the Strip, in the downtown and throughout the valley for the next 2 days."
The explosion occurred hours after a deadly New Orleans attack, when a man intentionally drove a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street, killing at least 14 people. The driver was killed in a shootout with police. The FBI said "weapons and a potential IED," or improvised explosive device, were found in his vehicle, which was flying an ISIS flag.
But on Thursday, Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterintelligence division, said, "At this point there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas."
Authorities were looking into several odd similarities between the incidents in the two cities. In addition to their timing on New Year's Day, both incidents involved trucks rented from the carsharing app Turo. Both involved U.S.-born military servicemen who served in Afghanistan around the same timeframe. But two U.S. officials say the military has not yet found any overlap between them at either Fort Bragg or in Afghanistan. They both served there, these officials say, but not at the same time.
President Biden said Wednesday evening that law enforcement and the intelligence community are investigating whether the Las Vegas blast has any possible connection with the New Orleans attack, but "thus far there's nothing to report."
In a statement, a Turo spokesperson said: "We are actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents. We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat."
In the past year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become a major donor and close adviser to Trump, with the billionaire tasked to head up Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Musk, along with his co-leader of DOGE, Vivek Ramaswamy, are aiming to cut billions in federal spending.
"[O]bviously a Cybertruck, the Trump Hotel — there's lots of questions that we have to answer as we move forward with that," McMahill said.
Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a post on X, Musksaid "The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now. Will post more information as soon as we learn anything. We've never seen anything like this."
In another post a few hours later, he said the blast "was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself."
A county spokeswoman said in a statement that the fire in the valet area of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas was reported at 8:40 a.m. Details about the incident were initially sketchy.
"I know you have a lot of questions," Jeremy Schwartz, acting FBI Special Agent in Charge for the Las Vegas office, said at the news conference. "We don't have a lot of answers."
Eric Trump, one of the president-elect's sons, posted about the fire on X, saying that an "electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochère of Trump Las Vegas."
Officials urged people to stay away from the area around the Trump Las Vegas hotel, which was evacuated. The 64-story hotel is just off the famed Las Vegas Strip and across the street from the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall.
Tesla introduced its steel-clad, futuristic-looking Cybertruck in 2023, with Musk at the time touting the vehicle's bullet-proof windows. The all-wheel Cybertruck ranges in price from about $80,000 to $100,000.
Margaret Brennan, Robert Legare, Jennifer Jacobs, James LaPorta, Eleanor Watson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Police identify driver of exploded Tesla Cybertruck as US Army soldier
Jan 2 (Reuters) - Law enforcement officials on Thursday said a U.S. Army soldier from Colorado was likely the person inside a Tesla TSLA.O Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, leaving the driver dead and seven people with minor injuries.
The FBI said it had so far found no definitive link between the New Year's DayNew Orleans truck attack that killed 15 people and the Cybertruck explosion on the same day. The FBI said it was not yet clear whether the Las Vegas blast was an act of terrorism.
Authorities believe Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old active-duty Army soldier from Colorado Springs, was inside the vehicle when gasoline canisters and large firework mortars in the truck bed exploded and that he acted alone. The body was burned beyond recognition and investigators were awaiting confirmation from DNA evidence and medical records.
The person in the Cybertruck shot himself in the head immediately before explosives in the vehicle were detonated, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference. A handgun was found at his feet.
It was one of two semi-automatic handguns found in the Cybertruck, both of which were lawfully purchased by Livelsberger on Dec. 30. Law enforcement also found military identification, a passport, an iPhone and credit cards in the truck.
Livelsberger was assigned to the Army Special Operations Command and was on approved leave at the time of his death, an Army official said. The Army Special Operations Command would not comment on an ongoing investigation, a spokesperson said.
A U.S. official told Reuters that Livelsberger had been awarded a Bronze Star for valor and an Army commendation for valor, along with a Combat Infantryman Badge. He completed five combat deployments to Afghanistan, the official said.
A close relative of Livelsberger, who asked that his name not be used because he did not want to be publicly linked to the suspect, told Reuters that Livelsberger always wanted to be an "Army soldier, in Special Forces, even as a little kid. And when he achieved that, he was a soldier's soldier."
Livelsberger was a supporter of President-elect Donald Trump throughout the Republican's political career, seeing him as someone who loves the military, the man told Reuters. "He thought Trump was the greatest thing in the world."
Livelsberger went to high school in Bucyrus in northern Ohio, the man said, where he played football and baseball and appeared happy and popular.
The man said that there was no inkling in the family that Livelsberger was planning something like the Las Vegas bombing. He said he could not reconcile what Livelsberger is believed to have done with the person he knew both as a child and man.
Livelsberger graduated from Bucyrus High School in 2005, according to Ohio media. He immediately left to join the military after graduation, his relative said.
Livelsberger did not appear to have had a criminal record, Las Vegas Sheriff McMahill said.
He has been linked to addresses in Colorado Springs since 2013, and local news channel FOX21 reported law enforcement officials were at a townhome complex there on Wednesday night.
The FBI's Denver office on Thursday said a search of a residential address in Colorado Springs by federal and local authorities was related to the Las Vegas explosion.
Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the Las Vegas hotel showed the Cybertruck, an electric vehicle with a distinctive angular design, exploding and flames pouring out of it, as it sat in front of the hotel around 8:40 a.m. local time (1640 GMT) on Wednesday.
A Trump spokesperson did not return a request for comment on Thursday. The president-elect's son, Eric Trump, praised Las Vegas fire and law enforcement officials on Wednesday for their quick action following the explosion.
The Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is part of the Trump Organization, the company of Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on Jan. 20. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a key backer of Trump in his 2024 presidential campaign and is also an adviser to the incoming president.
"It's not lost on us that it's in front of the Trump building, that it's a Tesla vehicle, but we don't have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology, or... any of the reasoning behind it," McMahill said.
Police said Livelsberger rented the Cybertruck in Denver on Dec. 28 and made stops in several cities including Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Flagstaff, Arizona, before arriving in Las Vegas early on Wednesday.
The truck drove along the city's hotel- and casino-lined Strip, drove through the Trump hotel's driveway and later returned to the valet area. The Trump hotel was evacuated and most guests were moved to another hotel.
Both the Cybertruck and the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack were rented through car-sharing service Turo, McMahill said.
A Turo spokesperson said the company did not believe either of the renters of the vehicles involved had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.
