A man who died after blowing up a Tesla cybertruck outside a Trump hotel has been pictured for the first time.
US Army veteran Matthew Livelsberger has been named locally by law enforcement sources as the man behind the explosion in Las Vegas, which left multiple people injured. He is believed to have used fireworks to create the blast.
The truck explosion came hours after a driver rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police. The crash was being investigated as a terrorist attack, and police believe the driver was not acting alone. A potential connection between the two incidents is being investigated, according to US president Joe Biden.
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The Tesla cybertruck exploded outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas
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Image:
X)
Livelsberger reportedly trained at the same military base as the New Orleans terror suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar. The FBI is reportedly searching a property connected to Livelsberger, with armoured vehicles and agents in tactical gear seen parked outside.
The trucks used in the deadly New Orleans and at Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas were also rented through the same app, it has been revealed. Both had been rented on the the same peer-to-peer rental app, Turo. The firm said in a statement that it was “actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents”, adding: “We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.”
The charred Tesla cybertruck has been searched by investigators
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Image:
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police)
Last night, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark County Fire Department officials confirmed that one person died inside the Tesla vehicle and seven people nearby suffered minor injuries. Authorities spent several hours recovering the body from the vehicle before they could start processing the evidence inside.
Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge for the FBI’s Las Vegas office, said: “Our number one goal is to ensure that we have the proper identification of the subject involved in this incident. Following that, our second objective is to determine whether this was an act of terrorism or not.”
The cybertruck had been rented on an app
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Image:
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police)
Tesla boss and Trump backer Elon Musk has claimed that the cybertruck managed to contain much of the explosion. He wrote 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.”
He also mocked the driver and said: “The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.”