COLORADO SPRINGS — Authorities have identified a Colorado Springs Special Forces soldier as the man suspected of driving a Tesla Cybertruck to the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas before it exploded.
Matthew Livelsberger, 37, was killed inside the futuristic electric truck after it exploded, about 70 minutes after he arrived in Las Vegas, Las Vegas police confirmed Thursday afternoon.
At a news conference Thursday, the Las Vegas sheriff said Livelsberger’s information was found inside the truck, including his military ID and passport.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Livelsberger sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head “before the explosion.” McMahill said the truck exploded 17 seconds after arriving at the hotel.
Two handguns bought Dec. 30 by Livelsberger were found inside the truck, officials said Thursday.
He said the Cybertruck was rented in Denver on Dec. 28. They tracked it through charging stations to Monument on Dec. 30, Trinidad on Dec. 31 as well as three places that day in New Mexico, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Gallup. It was then charged at three places in Arizona on New Year’s Day before going to Las Vegas.
A Turo spokesperson said the company does not believe Livelsberger had a criminal background that would have identified him as a security threat when he rented the Cybertruck.
“We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management, thanks to our world-class trust and safety technologies and teams that include experienced former law enforcement professionals,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
Livelsberger, who as a master sergeant, was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and on approved leave at the time of his death, an Army spokesperson said Thursday.
He served in the active duty Army from January 2006 to March 2011, then joined the National Guard until July 2012, the spokesperson said. Livelsberger entered active duty in December 2012.
A LinkedIn profile with the same name lists Livelsberger as a Special Forces Green Beret based in the Colorado Springs area. He worked as a “remote and autonomous systems manager,” after previous stints as a team sergeant, an intelligence and operations specialist and a communications specialist, according to the LinkedIn profile.
Livelsberger spent his time in Fort Carson in Colorado Springs and in Germany, McMahill said.
He was a highly decorated soldier, with awards including a Bronze Star Medal with Valor, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with Valor and three Army Commendation Medals, an Army spokesperson said.
Investigators are working to determine if the explosion was an act of terrorism, McMahill said during a news conference. Authorities believe it was an isolated incident and was not part of a larger plan.
Kenny Cooper, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said bomb technicians are working with the FBI and sifting through post-blast debris to determine how the explosive was set off.
“We’re too early into that investigation process to give any determination as far as how this device was initiated. I will say that we do know that the components primarily consisted of fireworks, mortars, aerial shells. … Nothing commercial grade has been discovered until this point,” Cooper said.
Fuel enhancers, which can be found at any sporting goods store, were also found, he said.
“The level of sophistication is not what we would expect from an individual with this type of military experience,” Cooper said. “Most of the materials inside the Tesla was fuel to help fuel a greater explosion.”
Authorities are still working “around the globe” to better understand the motivation behind the bombing.
“It’s not lost on us that it’s in front of the Trump building, that it’s a Tesla vehicle,” said Spencer Evans, special agent in charge of the Las Vegas Division. “But we don’t have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests that it was because of this particular ideology or the reasoning behind it.”
Tesla is owned by billionaire Elon Musk, who has been given a role in President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration.
Evans said the FBI has received thousands of tips related to the investigation.
On Thursday morning, investigators with the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Colorado Springs police were working near a residential address in northeastern Colorado Springs related to Wednesday’s explosion, the FBI said in a post on X, declining to provide further details on the investigation.
A neighbor said Livelsberger “seemed like a normal guy” and his wife just had a baby. She also said there were numerous boxes delivered to the house.
“He just seemed normal. His wife is very nice and they just had a baby,” Cindy Helwig told reporters Thursday morning at the complex. She said she never saw him with the Cybertruck.
“He was always bringing in boxes and stuff. I didn’t see what it was, though, because they were covered,” Helwig said, “but he was always bringing stuff in and out.”
She said the last time she spoke to him was a couple of weeks ago, when he stopped by her garage as she got home from work and asked to borrow a tool. “I can’t remember what tool it was. He was working on something with his car. I didn’t have it, and he said he would go ask a different neighbor.”
Neighbor Keni Mac described Livelsberger and his wife as a “very normal family” in a community where people know most of their neighbors.
“I find it hard to believe, you know. You hear like it could be your neighbor, and then it’s that’s just really sinking in at this point that it literally could be your neighbor,” Mac said. “I don’t want to, like, go on a rant about them because we don’t know all the facts at this point, but it is really sad to think that just someone that’s living right next to you could have this under their belt.”
Mac also said she hadn’t seen a Cybertruck in the community.