The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that caught fire and exploded in Las Vegas in front of one of the hotels of Donald Trump’s business empire has been identified as Matthew Livelsberger, a US Army veteran from Colorado Springs, Colorado, who died in the accident.
Livelsberger, 37, was killed in the explosion, while seven bystanders were injured. The military veteran, identified by Denver media outlets KOAA and KTNV, was behind the wheel of the electric-powered truck, which investigators soon discovered was packed with pyrotechnic-type mortars, camping fuel and gas canisters when the truck exploded. Wednesday morning.
Law enforcement sources have confirmed to local media that the electric vehicle was rented on Turo, the car-sharing service that was also used in the New Orleans attack that same day. There, suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar used the Turo app to rent an electric Ford pickup truck used in that attack in the early hours of New Year’s Day, in which 15 people were killed and dozens injured.
The news channel Denver 7 on Thursday cited police sources as saying that Livelsberger and Jabbar had served at the same military base, a possible connection that the US military has not independently confirmed with The Guardian.
Authorities were investigating the link as a possible connection between the two New Year’s Day attacks, those sources told the outlet.
The FBI is conducting operations and searches in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in connection with the Cybertruck explosion, sources tell ABC News, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Investigators are following leads in at least four states and abroad, the same sources add.
In a national address Wednesday, Joe Biden said the ongoing investigations into the New Orleans attack are “fluid.” The president added that law enforcement was investigating whether the Bourbon Street attack had any connection to the Tesla vehicle explosion in Las Vegas.
No such connection has yet been discovered, Biden said, and he pledged to keep Americans informed as the investigation progresses.
Livelsberger served more than 19 years in the military, 18 of them in the special forces, according to his LinkedIn profile. His most recent position was that of manager of remote and autonomous systems, which he had held for only three months.
Jabbar, for his part, enlisted in the Army in March 2007, working in both human resources and information technology, and was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010, after which he was transferred to the reserves. from the US Army in 2015. He served until July 2020 and left the Army with the rank of First Sergeant.
The Trump hotel was not damaged in the explosion in Las Vegas. Tesla founder Elon Musk later posted on X that “evil knuckleheads chose the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack.” In reality, the Cybertruck contained the explosion and directed it upward. “Not even the glass doors in the lobby were broken.”
Colorado Springs addresses linked to Livelsberger were surveilled and subsequently searched by FBI agents on Wednesday.
Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, confirmed at a press conference that the truck used in the attack was rented from Turo in Colorado and driven to Nevada.
McMahill said investigators were able to trace the truck’s journey from Colorado to Las Vegas as the driver stopped at charging stations along the route and the truck was in front of the hotel for 15 to 20 seconds before it exploded. .
The sheriff said Musk helped the investigation by having the truck unlocked after it self-locked in the explosion and by giving investigators video of the suspect at charging stations along his nearly 800-mile route.
A Turo spokesperson said in a statement: “We are actively collaborating with law enforcement authorities in the investigation of both incidents. “We do not believe that either of the two tenants involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had criminal records that would have identified them as a security threat.”
Musk said Wednesday afternoon on X: “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 not related to the vehicle itself. “All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
In a previous post on the platform after attending a New Year’s Eve party at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, Musk stated: “The entire senior team at Tesla is investigating this matter right now. “We have never seen anything like this.”
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