An ID belonging to Matthew Livelsberger, found inside a Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
STUTTGART, Germany — The U.S. service member killed when an explosive-packed Tesla Cybertruck burst into flames outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel was a Green Beret based in Germany, the Army confirmed on Thursday.
Master Sgt. Matthew Alan Livelsberger was assigned to the Army’s 10th Special Forces Group.
The group, which has a battalion based out of Stuttgart, is the Army’s primary special operations unit in Germany and carries out missions across Europe.
Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference Thursday that Livelsberger had suffered a gunshot to the head before the explosion. A handgun was found at his feet. Officials believe the shot was self-inflicted. The sheriff said they were still waiting for official DNA confirmation.
Livelsberger enlisted in the Army in 2006 and served on active duty until 2011. He then had stints in the National Guard and Army Reserve before returning to active duty in December 2012 as a special operations soldier, the Army said.
During his Army career, Livelsberger deployed twice to Afghanistan and served in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the Army said. Among his awards: Five Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire; a combat infantry badge; and an Army Commendation Medal with valor.
Livelsberger was on leave from his assignment in Germany when he died, officials said.
U.S. Army Special Operations Command “is in full cooperation with federal and state law enforcement agencies, but as a matter of policy, will not comment on ongoing investigations,” the Army statement said.
Livelsberger died Wednesday in a rented truck parked outside of Trump’s Las Vegas hotel and packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters, law enforcement officials said.
A Tesla Cybertruck burns outside Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel on Jan. 1, 2025. (Alcides Antunes via AP)
A weapon found inside a Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
Items found inside a Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
Items in the back of the Tesla Cybertruck which exploded in front of Trump International Hotel are shown in a video during an update to media at Metropolitan Police Department headquarters Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens, Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
Las Vegas police said seven people nearby suffered minor injuries from the explosion.
Damage from the blast was mostly limited to the interior of the truck. The explosion “vented out and up” and didn’t hit the Trump hotel doors just a few feet away, the sheriff said. Livelsberger likely planned a more damaging attack, but the steel-sided vehicle absorbed much of the force from the crudely built explosive.
“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.
Among other charred items found inside the truck were a second 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.
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.
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.
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, Colo., and the towns of Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Gallup in New Mexico, along the Interstate 40 corridor.
Then on Wednesday, the day of the explosion, it was charged in the Arizona towns of Holbrook, Flagstaff and Kingman 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 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.
Another neighbor, Keni Mac, who said she had only seen the man around the neighborhood, said he had tattoos and an “even keeled” demeanor. Mac said she saw the wife, who goes to her gym, walking their dog Wednesday morning.
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 14 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 Fort Liberty in North Carolina, which was previously known as Fort Bragg. However, an official who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity said there was no overlap in their assignments at the base.
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.”
“All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” Musk wrote.
Contributing: John Vandiver of Stars and Stripes reported from Stuttgart; The Associated Press
