The driver of a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday was identified through photos from charging stations, a passport, driver’s license and a tattoo on his arm, according to police officials.
Police identified the person of interest as 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, an active-duty U.S. Army special operations soldier from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a press conference on Thursday that while substantial evidence exists to suggest Livelsberger was in fact the person in the truck when it blew up, the body is burnt beyond recognition, and he still does not have confirmation through DNA or through medical records that it is in fact him.
Still, the investigation that has been conducted since the truck exploded in front of the Trump hotel at about 8:40 a.m., killing Livelsberger and injuring seven others, has uncovered various pieces of evidence.
A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in flames outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday, killing the driver and injuring seven others. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department released footage showing the moment of the explosion with charred gasoline canisters and firework mortars in the bed of the badly burned truck. Authorities believe fireworks, gas tanks, and camping fuel were connected to a detonation system controlled by the driver in the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Hotel in Las Vegas Wednesday morning. (EyePress News/Shutterstock)
As far as the movement, though, the sheriff said Livelsberger rented the truck on Dec. 28, and went through several charging stations including Monument, Colorado; Trinidad, Colorado; Las Vegas, New Mexico; Gallup, New Mexico; Flagstaff, Arizona; and Kingman, Arizona.
Livelsberger’s last charge was in Kingman just after 5:30 a.m., and the truck was first spotted in Las Vegas just before 7:30 a.m.
McMahill showed video of the truck moving throughout Las Vegas, driving up and down the strip, pulling into the Trump hotel’s valet, leaving the hotel, then returning at about 8:40 a.m. Seventeen seconds later, the truck exploded in the valet area of the hotel.
On the same morning, a man plowed a truck donning an ISIS flag into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing over a dozen people and injuring dozens more.
The driver of the truck, Shamsud Din Jabbar, also rented the vehicle using Turo.
McMahill said both Livelsberger and Din Jabbar served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, though there is no record they served there at the same time.
He also said both men served in Afghanistan in 2009, though there is no evidence they were in the same province in Afghanistan, the same location or the same unit.
Livelsberger was a Green Beret operations sergeant who spent most of his time at Fort Carson, Colorado, and in Germany. McMahill said Livelsberger was approved leave from Germany where he was serving with the special forces group. He also previously served in the National Guard and Army Reserve.
