Man who died in Tesla in Las Vegas ‘suffered gunshot wound’ before explosion
The man who authorities believe died in the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside one of Donald Trump’s hotels was an active-duty army soldier who served in the special forces, US officials have said.
Speaking at a news conference, Las Vegas sheriffs and FBI officials said the identity of the driver had not yet been officially confirmed through DNA, but evidence pointed towards it being Matthew Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado Springs in Colorado.
The man who died had suffered a gunshot wound to the head prior to the rented Tesla vehicle bursting into flames outside the Trump International Hotel on New Year’s Day, said Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill.
Officials believe the wound was self-inflicted and said a firearm was found at the driver’s feet.
A second gun was also discovered inside the truck, along with a passport, military identification, an iPhone and a smartwatch, Mr McMahill said. The identification and two tattoos on the driver’s body “give a strong indication” that Livelsberger was driving, he added.
Damage from the blast was mostly limited to the interior of the truck, the officials told reporters.
The level of sophistication of the explosive “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 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The vehicle was first rented in Denver, Colorado, on 28 December and was driven through New Mexico and Arizona before reaching Las Vegas, in Nevada, the officials said.
After tracking the vehicle’s journey, Livelsberger is the only person officers have seen in the vehicle, the news conference was told.
Who is Matthew Livelsberger?
Livelsberger was a decorated officer who served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners, the US army said in a statement.
He had served in the army since 2006 and spent some time at a base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a centre in North Carolina that is home to special forces command. He also had a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
He was awarded two Bronze Stars, including one with a valour device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valour.
He was still on active duty and on approved leave at the time of the explosion. Seven other people suffered minor injuries when the vehicle caught fire.
The explosion is being looked at as a possible terror attack, officers previously said. As yet, no cause for the blast has been given, but fireworks mortars, cannisters and other explosive devices were found in the back of the truck.
A possible motive is yet to be uncovered.
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Fireworks and gas cannisters found in exploded Tesla
Possible links with New Orleans attack
The incident occurred just hours after a man drove a truck into crowds celebrating the New Year in New Orleans, Louisiana, killing 14 people before he was shot dead by police.
The suspect in that attack has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, who was a US army veteran. An Islamic State flag was flown from the truck.
Officials are investigating a possible connection between the attacks.
During the Las Vegas news conference, Mr McMahill said his force was not ruling anything out – despite the FBI earlier appearing to play down a potential connection, saying there was “no definitive link” at this stage during a separate news conference in New Orleans.
“It’s an interesting thing in these kind of investigations that, if these turn out to be simply similarities, (they are) very strange similarities to have,” Mr McMahill said.
Like Livelsberger, Jabbar also spent time at Fort Bragg. However, no overlap in their assignments there has been found so far.
Law enforcement officers are also looking into the fact both men used the Turo car app to rent the vehicles involved in both incidents.
Read more:
‘Quiet and smart’: What we know about New Orleans suspect
Teenage girl and Princeton graduate among New Orleans victims
Shamsud-Din Jabbar has been identified as the suspect in the New Orleans attack. Pic: FBI
The truck involved in the explosion in Vegas arrived in the city at 7.30am local time (3.30pm UK time).
“It went immediately up and down Las Vegas Boulevard before immediately pulling into the Trump Towers,” Mr McMahill said at an earlier news conference.
The 64-storey hotel is just behind the famous Las Vegas Strip and opposite the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall.
Tesla video helped track journey
Tesla is owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk who has been a close ally of Mr Trump – donating millions to his successful 2024 US election campaign. He has also been tasked with leading Mr Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Video captured at Telsa charging stations provided by Mr Musk helped authorities track the vehicle’s journey prior to the explosion.
Earlier, Mr Musk wrote 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 unrelated to the vehicle itself.
“All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
Eric Trump, one of Mr Trump’s sons, who is also executive vice president of the Trump Organisation, posted about the fire on X, praising the fire department and local law enforcement “for their swift response and professionalism”.
Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against the BBC, alleging the corporation’s Panorama documentary portrayed him in a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious” manner.
The complaint relates to the broadcaster’s editing of a speech he made in 2021 on the day his supporters overran the Capitol building.
Clips were spliced together from sections of the US president‘s speech on January 6 2021 to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell”.
It aired in the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election.
The US president is seeking damages of no less than $5bn (£3.7bn).
He has also sued for $5bn for alleged violation of a trade practices law. Both lawsuits have been filed in Florida.
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BBC crisis: How did it happen?
‘They put words in my mouth’
Speaking in the Oval Office earlier on Monday, he said: “In a little while, you’ll be seeing I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth.
“Literally, they put words in my mouth. They had me saying things that I never said coming out.”
The scandal erupted earlier this year after a leaked memo highlighted concerns over the way the clips were edited.
After the leak, BBC chair Samir Shah apologised on behalf of the broadcaster over an “error of judgement” and accepted the editing of the 2024 documentary gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.
The fallout from the saga led to the resignation of both the BBC director-general Tim Davie and the head of news Deborah Turness.
Earlier, BBC News reported the broadcaster had set out five main arguments in a letter to Mr Trump’s legal team as to why it did not believe there was a basis for a defamation claim.
In November, the BBC officially apologised to the president, adding that it was an “error of judgement” and saying the programme will “not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms”.
A spokesperson said “the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited,” but they also added that “we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim”.
Four people have been charged with plotting New Year’s Eve bomb attacks in California.
Federal authorities in the US said the four are allegedly part of an extremist group which is suspected of planning the attacks in southern California.
The plot consisted of planting explosive devices at five locations targeting two US companies at midnight on New Year’s Eve in the Los Angeles area.
The suspects were arrested last week in Lucerne Valley, a desert city east of Los Angeles.
Photos of suspects of the terror plot are shown on a screen during a press conference. Pic: AP
They are said to be members of an offshoot of a pro-Palestinian, anti-government and anti-capitalist group dubbed the Turtle Island Liberation Front, the complaint said.
As well as the alleged plan against the two companies, the group also planned to target Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and vehicles, attorney general Pam Bondi said.
The four defendants named in the complaint are Audrey Illeene Carroll, Zachary Aaron Page, Dante Gaffield, and Tina Lai.
All four are from the Los Angeles area, according to first assistant US attorney Bill Essayli.
The alleged plot
According to a sworn statement by the complaint, Carroll showed an eight-page handwritten document to a paid confidential source in November, which described a bomb plot.
The document was titled “Operation Midnight”.
Essayli said one of the suspects created a detailed plan that “included step-by-step instructions to build IEDs (improvised explosive device)… and listed multiple targets across Orange County and Los Angeles.”
FBI assistant director in charge Akil Davis speaks at a press briefing on the incident. Pic: AP
Carroll and Page are then alleged to have recruited the other two defendants to help them carry out the plan which included acquiring bomb-making materials before constructing and performing test detonations.
Under the plan, the defendants would supposedly have travelled to a remote location in the Mojave Desert on the 12 December to construct and detonate their test explosive devices, the sworn statement alleges.
Evidence photos included in the court documents show a desert campsite with what investigators said were bomb-making materials strewn across plastic folding tables.
The FBI said agents intervened before the defendants could complete their work to assemble a functional explosive device.
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US
The shock of a shooting will cut deeply – but if anywhere can find hope in the face of despair, Providence can
“Most of us live off hope” – the text of a colourful mural, painted on a wall on Hope Street, Providence.
On most days, the neighbourhood around Brown University feels like a place of quiet optimism, swimming against the negative tide.
Hope Street’s mural
The shock of a shooting, that has claimed two lives and left eight others critically wounded, will cut deeply here.
Violence feels not just intrusive but incompatible with the spirit of a place that is governed by thought, not threat.
When the university president said “this is a day we hoped would never come”, she spoke for the whole town.
Two students were killed in the attack
Providence, Rhode Island, is a place I know well. My daughter, her husband and their two little girls live there.
It is a college town with a college vibe, the compact campus priding itself on openness – architecturally, intellectually and emotionally.
They rehearse “shelter-in-place” scenarios, as every university does, but they are not experienced at living behind locked doors.
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‘Stay inside,’ mayor warns as suspect still at large
Rhode Island, the smallest state, has one of the lowest gun-death rates in America, zero mass shooting events in 2024.
Earlier this year, the state banned the sale and manufacture of assault weapons, but it didn’t include those already owned.
Even in a Democratic, liberal state like Rhode Island, they are struggling to find a solution to America’s gun problem.
People hug each other outside Brown University in Providence after the shooting. Pic: Reuters
The age-old constitutional right to bear arms continues to trump the most human of all rights – the right to life.
This is a community that assumes safety, not because it is naïve, but because it has grown accustomed to trust.
College Hill rises in gentle brick and ivy, its narrow streets winding past houses with verandas designed for long conversations.
They take place in hushed tones right now, but if anywhere can find its way out of despair, Providence can.
On the historic street along its east side and in the college on the corner, most people live off hope.
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