Suspect behind Cybertruck that exploded at Trump hotel identified as active-duty U.S. Army soldier
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The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that blew up outside Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year’s Day has been identified as active-duty U.S. Army soldier Matthew Livelsberger, The Associated Press is reporting, citing law enforcement officials. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Livelsberger, 37, has several addresses associated with him and was on leave from Germany where he was serving with the 10th Special Forces Group. 

On Wednesday, he reportedly pulled the truck up outside the hotel at around 8:40 a.m. local time, and it exploded about 15 to 20 seconds later. The explosion killed Livelsberger and injured seven others. 

tesla-cybertruck

Investigators photograph a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the lobby of Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year’s Day. (WADE VANDERVORT/AFP via Getty Images)

A Turo spokesperson told Fox News Digital the company does not believe either renter in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had criminal backgrounds that would have identified them as a security threat.

Meanwhile, McMahill said that the Cybertruck withstood most of the explosion on Wednesday and was still completely intact afterward.

“The fact that this was a Cybertruck, really limited the damage that occurred inside of the valet because it had most of the blast go up through the truck and out,” McMahill said. “In fact, if you look on that video, you’ll see that the front glass doors at the Trump hotel were not even broken by the blast.”

The preliminary investigation to this point involved input from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who McMahill said gave quite a bit of information about how the vehicle was locked after it exploded because of the force of the explosion.

New-Orleans-Car-Into-Crowd

Investigators worked the scene after a person drove a vehicle into a crowd earlier on Canal and Bourbon Street in New Orleans, on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Musk also helped when it came to capturing surveillance footage from Tesla charging stations across the country.

The billionaire kept followers up to date about the Cybertruck explosion on his social media platform 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 unrelated to the vehicle itself. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” Musk wrote in one post.

“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards,” he said in another post. “Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken.”

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