Investigators have yet to determine what prompted an active-duty U.S. Army soldier to hire a Tesla Cybertruck and drive it to Trump International Hotel in Las Vegaswhere he appeared to shoot himself in the head before the vehicle exploded on New Year’s Day.
Sheriff of Las Vegas Kevin McMahill has identified 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger of Colorado Springs, Colorado, as a person of interest in the case, although he wouldn’t go so far as to say with 100% certainty that he’s a suspect until DNA matches the remains of the body. in Cybertruck with Livelsberger.
Around 8:40 a.m., the truck was seen pulling up to the hotel entrance before stopping. Seventeen seconds later, the vehicle exploded and fireworks could be heard shooting from the bulletproof truck.
Along with the fireworks, McMahill said the truck contained camping fuel and gasoline. The explosion did not damage the body of the truck, except for the glass and cover, the sheriff pointed out.
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Flames rise from a Tesla Cybertruck after it exploded outside the Trump International Las Vegas hotel, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, January 2025. (Alcides Antunes/via REUTERS)
He also said that the hotel’s glass doors were not damaged, although seven passers-by suffered minor injuries.
While the subject’s body was burned beyond recognition, McMahill also said the subject suffered a gunshot wound to the head prior to the detonation, and one of the guns was found at his feet in the vehicle.
McMahill would not say that Livelsberger was on a suicide mission, though he went so far as to call it “a suicide bombing that happened right after.”
WHO IS MATTHEW LIVELSBERGER? WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE SUSPECT FOR THE TESLA CYBERTRUCK EXPLOSION
Matthew Livelsberger seen in photo. (Fox News)
On Thursday, FBI agents searched Livelsberger’s home in Colorado Springs to try to determine his motive and how he got to Las Vegas.
“We absolutely know we have a bombing, and it’s a bombing that certainly has factors of concern,” FBI Special Agent Spencer Evans said during a news conference Thursday. “We haven’t forgotten that it’s in front of the Trump building and that it’s a Tesla vehicle, but at this point we don’t have information that definitively tells us … it was because of this particular ideology or whatever reason behind it.”
The Associated Press reported that Livelsberger had recently returned from an overseas assignment in Germany and was on approved leave when he died, according to a US official.
A law enforcement official also told the television station that investigators learned through interviews that Livelsberger may have had an argument with his wife about relationship problems shortly before he rented the Tesla and legally purchased the guns found in the truck. The official spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
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Matthew Livelsberger poses in an undated photo. (Fox News)
Livelsberger appears to have been married at one point to Sara Livelsberger, a 38-year-old who lives in Delray Beach, Florida. Denver Post reported that he divorced in 2018 and remarried in 2022.
In Facebook posts from 2016, Sara said she was a registered Democrat and shared images disparaging President-elect Trump.
Although Livelsberger lives in Colorado, he has connections in Ohio.
Ohio’s Columbus Dispatch reported that Livelsberger received a speeding ticket in Franklin County for going 70 mph in a 65 mph zone in September 2011.
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Investigators are looking into the contents of a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Press Conference)
Livelsberger reportedly had an address in Westerville, the publication reported. He also owns real estate in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohioaccording to property records obtained by The Columbus Dispatch.
He graduated from Bucyrus High School in Ohio, where he was an athlete participating in baseball and football. But after allegedly injuring himself playing football, Livelsberger enlisted in the US Army and worked with the Special Forces as a communications officer.
His uncle, Dean Livelsberger, told The Independent that his nephew “was 100% patriotic” and even described him as “a Rambo guy, for lack of a better term.”
The Independent reported that Dean said his nephew had patriotic threads on Facebook and loved President-elect Trump.
Dean also reportedly spoke to the publication about his nephew’s skills with explosives.
INVESTIGATORS USE TATTOO, PHOTOS TO IDENTIFY SUSPECT BEHIND TRUMP HOTEL CYBERTRUCK EXPLOSION
Investigators are looking into the contents of a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Press Conference)
“Matt was a very skilled warrior and he would have been able to make — if it had been him, and if he had done this — he would have been able to make a more sophisticated explosive than using propane tanks and camping fuel,” he reportedly said. he said. “He was what you might call a ‘super soldier’. If you’ve ever read about the things he’s been awarded and the experience he’s gained, some of it doesn’t make sense, when he had the skills and ability to do something more, let’s say, ‘efficient’. His skills were immense from what he learned in the army.”
With those skills, Dean said, Livelsberger “could made a bomb it would wipe out half that hotel if he was serious about hurting others.”
Livelsberger was a Operations Sergeant of the Green Berets who spent most of his time at Fort Carson, Colorado, and in Germany. McMahill said Livelsberger had been cleared to leave Germany, where he was serving with a special forces group. He also previously served in the National Guard and Army Reserve.
He also received several awards and honors while serving in the US Army.
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U.S. Army Public Affairs told Fox News that Livelsberger earned the Bronze Star Medal with valor; Bronze Star Medal four times; Medal of Merit; Army Commendation Medal for Valor; Army Medal three times; Military Achievement Medal twice; Military Good Conduct Medal five times; National Defense Service Medal; Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star three times; Expeditionary Medal in the Global War on Terrorism; Medal for Merit in the Global War on Terrorism; Non-commissioned officer’s professional development ribbon three times; Ribbon for military service; Ribbon for foreign service; NATO medal twice; Special forces card; Combat infantry badge; paratrooper badge; and a free fall badge.
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
